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AS A MAN, TUE NOBLEST ANU Pl.KEST OK HIS TIMKS. 

AS A S01,U1EK, Tilii lUOL OE M1LL1.)NS OF PEOPLE. 

AS A CITIZKN, TllK GKANUKST oK THE SATIOE , 



A New, Original and Authentic Record 

OK TllK 

LIFE AND DEEDS 

Gl-NliRAL U. S. GRANT 

CO.\TAININ(} A FULL HISTORY OF HIS EARLY LIFE ; HIS RECORD AS A STl^DENT 

AT THE WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY ; HIS GALLANTRY IN THE MEXICAN 

war; his honorable career as a BUSINESS MAN IN ST. LOUIS AND 

GALENA ; HIS EMINENT SERVICES TO HIS COUNTRY IN OUR GIU';AT 

CIVIL WAR ; HIS ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY ; HIS( ABLE AND 

PATRIOTIC ADMINISTRATION; HIS TOUR AROUND THE 

WORLD, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT HONORS 

SHOWN HIM BY THE EJIPERORS, KINGS AND 

RULERS OF ALL NATIONS ; HIS LINGERING 

SICKNESS, HEROISM IM SUEFER- 

ING, AND PATHETIC DEATH. 

BY 

OK THK PUILADKLPHIA "TIMES • 
Author -f ' Till' Hiittlfscif Kiaiikliu and GliickamaiiKa," '' Life ol (i.^iiHial Be.iver,"' etc., etc. 

With an Iritrodiictioii by liis Pastor, 
REV. J. P. NEWMAN. 



'HE RECORD OF AN HONORABLE AND BRILLIANT CAREER ; A STRIKING ILLUS- 
TRATION OP THE TRIUMPH OF GENIUS UNDER FREE INSTITUTIONS. 



liuilii'llisliwl with numerous Fine lllustnitions of Scenes in the Life of the Great Hero. 



ST. PAUL, MINN. : 

EMPYREAL PUBLISHING HOUSE, 

COU RT BLOCK. 






►a«CTr<l accnrduiw lo Act of Lciii.rc»!>, in ihr year 1S85. Hy 

J. K. J()M:s. 

In the ' Mhcr ii 'he 'jtiranan ol Ct'njjress. at vvasninfun, U C. 



U. S . Lib, 

iAo 1 :> 1937 



PREFACE. 



There are many obstacles in the way of the writing 
of a just history of General Grant. There are ques- 
tions which are still unsettled ; disputes of time and cir- 
cumstance which can still be created. Many of the 
actors in the great melodrama of the Republic are yet 
alive, and their recollections do not always harmonize. 
As nearly as is possible, at this time, the Author has 
tried to anticipate the final judgment of history. 

In this book each side to the conflict has freely hon- 
ored his drafts for information. The blue and the grey 
tell their parallel stories in its pages. In this respect it 
will be unique in war history. In this respect, too, it 
will be a curious illustration of the comity now existing 
between those so lately and so bitterly in arms against 
each other — a comity which the funeral scenes at the 
grave of the great commander emphasized. 

History is impartial. There is more than one side to 
the shield. The Author has recognized this, and he has 
called the Confederate as well as the Federal in evidence. 
The record so made up shows that the Americans who 
fought against Union had much of gallantr}' and earnest- 
ness. That they laid down much upon the altar of an 
error which had become rather a habit than a conviction, 
does not detract from the splendid abilit)' and courage 
which they displayed. The cause which was lost left 
many graves, but that of a greet tradition was among 



( 

PREFACE. \ 

them. It was better that it should be buried!; 
been an ugly spirit makinf^ strife between the Sv 

The method of the work furnishes a suggestid 
how the history of the Civil War should be writte 
seems to the Author that, from the broader view, 
great conflict which resulted in the birth of our new 
nationality can be generously treated because it fur- 
nishes a tribute to the gallantry of the soldiery of both 
sides — each side American. Neither has any reason 
to be ashamed of the test of manhood involved. 

Better than this, the career of General Grant contains 
its lesson to the re-united country. It is as potent South 
as North. Independent of all the angry details of the 
strife, it tells its own stor}^ of the possibilities of our 
citizenship. It is a great object lesson to American 
youth. It is a life which proves the strength and 
ensures the perpetuity of our institutions. It is a vin- 
dication of all that has been claimed for the possibili- 
ties of manhood in the republic. 

There has been an effort in this work to present un- 
prejudiced testimony and tell the stor)' of a remarkable 
career and a great war simply and impartially. Old 
friends, and old foes, who are so no longer, have joined 
in the work. In no other countr)- could such a con- 
junction have been possible. 

!•. A. Blrr. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

IN SUPRKME COMMAND. 

Grant in command of all the armies— Crossing the Rapidan— The wrestle in 
the Wilderness — Description of that wild and rugged region — Hancock on 
Hooker's old battle-field — Warren's assault — Grant's famous ride to the front 
— An old officer's tribute .... . . • • -49 

CHAPTER II. 

THE GR.A.NT FAMILY. 

Grant's ancestry — He comes of fighting stock— Tracing his family back eight 
hundred years — They are from the sturdy yoemanry of Scotland — Matthew 
Grant's arrival in this country — Early settlement in New England — Noah 
Grant the great-grandfather and Noah Grant the grandfather — His life in 
Pennsylvania — Birth and early life of Jesse Grant — His marriage to Hannah 
Simpson — Characteristics of his parents 60 

CHAPTER HI. 

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD DAYS. 

Grant's birthplace in Ohio — His early life and education— A plain, unassuming 
boy — Not much of a student and less of a soldier when a lad — A manly, 
courageous, industrious boy, fond of horses— School-days — His appointment 
to West Point — Difference between Grant and other great commanders . 68 

CHAPTER IV. 

WEST POINT. 

Starting for West Point — Stops in Philadelphia — His associates at the Academy 
— His feats of horsemanship — General Quimi^y's recollections of his school- 
days—General Rufus Ingalls tells of " Sam Grant " — How his classmates 
generally regarded him 7^ 

CHAPTER V. 

FROM WEST POINT TO ME.KICO. 

Graduation and assignmdnt to the Fourth Infantry — Is sent to St. Louis and 
meets Miss Julia Dent — Fined several bottles of wine by Captain Buchanan 
— Army-life in Louisiana — Visits the Rifle Regiment — Is a good hand at 
gander-pulling— A characteristic letter — Goes to Mexico — An honorable 
record in his first war . ......... 88 

CHAPTER VI. 

IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 

To the Rio Grande— In the Mexican War — Grant's first battle under Taylor 
— At Vera Cruz with Scott — Gallantry at Chapultepec — Brevetted for gallantry 
— Always a good soldier — Quartermaster of his regiment — Reminiscences 
of him by old comrades 102 

CHAPTER VII. 

TO THE WESTERN FRONTIER. 

Return from the Mexican war — Stationed at Sackett's Harbor — Marriage — 
Pffeparing for the Pacific coast— Crossing the Isthmus — Battle with cholera 

At Fort Vancouver — Speculations which ended badly — Hoes potatoes, 

puts up ice, and deals in pigs and cattle — Resigns from the army . .112 

(5) 



6 CONTENTS. 

CMArTER VIII. 

FROM IIIK ARMY TO FARNHNO. 

' >ul of the armv— r.^i: haractcr by nn old comrade— His farm-life 

near S< I>..uiv_H . i'> market— Mccling old army ofiicer>— On 

ihelhrrtJu.l.lol war -.. ,u,od at the bejjiiminK— A characteristic letter I20 

CHAITER IK. 

RETIRN TO THE ARMY. 
War inspires him t-> rrtnm to military duties— Scenes with the Governor of 
lllinoii -Dick Vato'llrst impression of Grant— Wants a place on McClellan's 
rtaff— Is ma.lc Colonel of an unruly regiment- Marches it into Missouri- 
Made Bngadier General— Assitjncd to Cairo— Grams first notable service . 136 

CHAPTER X. 

THE BATTLE UK BELMONT. 

Grant's first battle— Hi* feint toward Columbus— Colonels Oglesby and Logan 

— Movrng down the river— The location of the Confederate forces — Moving 
to the attack — (,;rant's horse killed under him — .\ demoralized army — De- 
ftroyin^; the camp— Retreating to the bo.its— Grant's yicril and success — Tells 
why he fought his first Iwttle ... I44 

CHAPTER XI. 
A CONFEDERATE VIEW OF BELMONT. 
Tolk r -How they fought their troops at Belmont— The story told by 

a ,:; 1 ex Confederate— Grant's masterly t.iclics — Pushing Pillow to 

the \s .\.\ 1 nning his own guns ujwn his demoralized troops — Fine artillery 
practice— The retreat— Saving Grant's life- Safe aboard the transporU . 1 56 

CHAPTER XII. 

FROM CAIRO TO FORT HENRY. 

Grant's district enlarged — Restive under llalleck's opposition to an .advance — 
Generril ^rrith'* r^]^cdi^ion to M.nylield — Suffering of the new troops — The 
C.I s on the Tennessee and Cumberland — "Two guns" 

cr. r! Henry — Halleck's assent to attack it obtained — The 

amiv "11 ii.i:: , -.Its— Commodore I'oote's gunboats — The att.ack and the sur- 
render — Grant moving on Eort Donclson . . . . .163 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CAPTl.RE OF FORT lK)NEI.SON. 

hurt 1 1 >n the Cuml>erland — The vital point of the Con- 

fc.l lovcls — Halleck to Grant — The march and flight — 

Su' 'f the triM)|is — Grant on (kity — I'eais a su]>crior 

foi t — ^ The attack on McClcrnand — lloyd and Pillow 

nia. olncs on ihe ficM — Turning defeat into victory — 

General c. 1-. Saiilht »|>lcndid charge — The surrender .... 169 

CHA1*TER XIV. 

THE CoNFH>KK.\rE STORY OF IXINELSON. 

The fall of Fort llnuy— Tlie Mtuaiioii at Donclson — A Confederate's graphic 
Mory of slic iiivi siin-iii Poittr's battery — The fight on Febiiiary l^lh — 
lnili\i'lu.«I iini.iiu r» oi g.dl.mtry -The asaanll on the Federal ri^ht — Striking 
the I'moii line* — ■ticiicial Smith's charge — The (."onfederale council of war 

— Hoyd'» csca|ic — The surrender — Interesting details .... 191 

CHAPTER XV. 

TIIK fKI'-^ ■■' -' ■ 'KSS. 

Kflect of I ty -Hallcrk's \.\ — Compl.iinls to Washington 

nnlhntiti I «ii of •• f»ad b. u.iled — Rumor made a baste 

of C(>m|>i;tMii-- ■■ Mtion charged — "An enemy l»ciween you and me " 

— (iranl's no • — His rc<jiiest to lie relieved refuse<l — Halleck's 

h&lting es|)lau.)tK>ii Oraut's magnauimuus waiving of personal feeling . 221 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ISATTLK t)F SHILOH. 

Grant nrrain in command — .Smith's knightly loyalty — Hallock's orders — Buell's 
leisurely march to Pittsburgh — Albert Sidney Johnston at Corinth— Preparing 
a surprise — The Confederate march — Undiscovered in Grant's frcnt — At- 
tacking at daylight — Prentiss sustains the first shock — His raw troops give 
way — Sherman's stubborn stand — Thrice driven back — W. H. L. Wallace 
slain — Sidney Johnston mortally wounded — Saved by Webster's guns — 
Buell's army arrives — The second day's battle — (Jrant takes the offensive — 
The Confederates' resistance — Retreat ordered — Results of the victory . 235 

CHAPTER XVn. 

CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOH. 
Beauregard in the West — Interview with General A. S. Johnston — The Con- 
federate line of defence — Its weak points indicated — Johnston's gloom — 
Beauregard concentrated at Corinth — A badly-armed force — Johnston arrives 
at Corinth — He assumes command — The march to Shiloh — Tardiness of 
Polk — The onset delayed — Confederate dispositions for battle — ''^he attack 
a total surprise — Sheridan's and Prentiss' resistance — The Federals driven 
back thrice — Johnston's fatal wound — The Confederates' final charge — 
Sleeping in the Federal camps — The second day's fight — Buell's fresh troops 
— The Confederate retreat . . ....... 258 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 

Shiloh's lessons — Politics in war — Halleck assumes immediate command — 
Three armies concentrated — One hundred and twenty thousand men — Cam- 
paign of picks and shovels — Six weeks moving fifteen miles — The investors 
awaiting attack — Corinth evacuated \vithout a struggle — Quaker guns — The 
enemy tardily pursued — Disgust of the army — Buell sent to Chattanooga — 
Pope takes command of the Army of the Potomac — Grant left at Corinth — 
The battles of luka and Corinth — Plolding his own against Van Dorn and 
Price — Influence regained . . . ...... 279 

CHAPTER XIX. 

MOVING TOWARD VICKSBURG. 

Pemberton confronting Grant — Campaigning at a distance — Grant moving 
down the Mississippi Central — McClernand's ambitious schemes — Moving 
toward the Tallahatchie — "I can handle them without gloves" — Holly 
Springs taken — Hovey's successful diversion — Abbeville evacuated — Within 
eighteen miles of Grenada — Grant's communications cut — Murphy's surrender 
— Living on the enemy — The campaign defeated — Grant's only retreat . . 297 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE APPRO.'VCH TO VICKSBURG. 

Vicksburg's batteries — Tier after tier of heavy guns — The gunboats prepare to 
run them — A brilliant war-scene — Success of the enterprise — Grant's obsta- 
cles on land — Changing the face of nature — Five crosscuts abandoned — The 
army thrown below Vicksburg — A wonderful military feat — Into Mississippi 
— The demonstration at Haines' Bluff — Battle of Port Gibson — Grand Gulf 
evacuated — At last a base around Vicksburg . . . . . . 310 

CHAPTER XXI. 

BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 

Grant's most original campaign — Cutting loose from his base — Subsisting on the 
countrj' — Bewildering manoeuvres — Pemberton's army divided — Accidental 
battle at Raymond — Logan's splendid valor — Jnckson invested — McPherson's 
hot engagement — Jackson captured — The army turned backward — Pemberton 
struck at Champion's Hill — An overwhelming defeat — Routed at Black River 
Bridge — Penned up in Vicksburg — Haines' Bluff taken — The siege begun — 
Sherman's doubts turned to admiration ....... ^26 



< CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

VICKSBl'RG SURRKNUERED. 

\i kshur^; invcstc i — H.u!:'?-.' Uluff occupied — The first assault — Union battle- 
tU;;% oil '.)ic L..ui:tct>..iri> — The assault repulsed — Second assault — The city 
l».>ir' • 1 jue scenes — Gallant cliarges — Again repuls-^d — CJrants 
ani: ■: »icKc iines tiyhl drawn — Ilardshii^s uf l)esiegers and 
|»e»i-^ : ^ ^ the mines — Starving Confederutes and civilians — Sur- 
render f ro[K»scd — 1 he corresjxjndence — A glorious Fourth of July — Terms 
of surrender — Sherman's protest returned — llie Miisi-.sii)pi " unvexed to the 
»ea- 350 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

CONFEDERATE STORY OK VICKSBL'RG. 

The importance of V'icksl>urg to the Confederacy — The country it commanded 
— Cjrant's forward movement — Peml>erton's inability to grasp the situation — 
\V\s utter failure to make any pro|)er resistance — Johnston fails to take active 
command — Blunder after blunder — More tentative operations — The final sur- 
render 376 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

VICKSHIRIJ TO CHATTANOOGA. 

• The river unvexed to the sea" — Great rejoicing over Vicksburg's fall— Re- 

stored to |K)pular cntidcnce — Success the test — Sherman pursues Johnston 

— Si ■ ' -Johnston's hasty evacu.ition — A marcli of terrible suf- 
fer! : .1 buildings destroyed — Kcedinij famished inhabitants 
— S..| , .. . . •. ..;i.derate wounded — Sherman in command at Vicksburg 
— Grant visits New (Jrle.ms — Is seriously injured — The army scattered — 
Succoring Rosecrans — Ordered to Cairo — Military division of the Missis- 
"Ppi 403 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE n\TTLE OF ClIICKAMAfOA. 

• The hardest battle of the war " — Fought to secure Chattanooga — Preliminary 

movements — Hragg's army across the river — Thomas reinforced — l.oomis' ar- 
tillery caiiturrfl — l/isngstreel's arrival — His corps frmi Virgini.i — No confer- 
enc ■ .ifcderate wing commanders — .Attack nt daylight ordered 

— I ■'■ t'le ficlil — Rosecrans' dispositions — Thomas to defend 

the ....... ..i—.x>.^,.ng for the fateful struggle .... . 41S 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE SEIONIJ day's FIGHT. 

The commanders earlv astir — Rosecrans finds fault with McCook — Polk fails 
to .\v ' ' ' -Wo.kI's terrible mistake — Longstreet's famous charge 

I" " 1 t'rittenden forced b.ick — Thomas' splendid tenacity — 

Stic f, ; .barge — Fighting for darkness — Federal reti cat — Hragg 

fails to pursue — Nearly forty thousand lost on both sides . . \ 431 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE llATTLt:.s AMofT CHATTANOO<;a. 

^U": '' ' ' r.ins' removal — Thomas in command — Grant as 

armies — He re.iches the scone of operations nfier 

-1 :• - - 1 army — "The gloomiest part of my life" — Plans 

for rclicl — I'IciUy ul rations— Preparations for the attack . 445 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE BATTI.E kF HxiKufT MofNTAIN. 

y ,,..^. f ..;... 1. 1 Hooker on the Confedcr.ite (l.mk — Moves to 

1 :kc up the heights— Covered by the mists of 
•' ' - 111 war — Ihe battle alH)vc the fogs — The army 
await iKimgs irom ihc mountain — A season of dread »usp.-nsc — The messen- 
ger of victoiy ^-5 



CONTENTS. 9 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

SWEKPING MISSIONARY RIDGF.. 

The messenger of victory — Shifting die Confederate forces — Openintj of the 
last day's tight — The Feder.il dispo>iti()ns— Grant and his generals on7jrchard 
Knob— Slierman's tenilic charges — The general ass.nilt — Climbing the ridi^e 
— An inspiring spectacle — Success •••..... 466 

CHAPTER XXX. 

GENERAI, CKEATHAM'S NARRATIVE. 

A graphic recital of a jiicturesque battle — Hragg's mistake— The famous Council 
of War — Too much State pride — Sending Longsireet away — The battle of 
Lookout Mountain — A small atTair — Bringing the troops off the ridc'e Pre- 
paring for the battle— A grand military display— Sherman's assault— Thomas' 
final victory — The " Perilous Ridge of Mission" ..... 47^ 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

CHATTANOOGA TO WASHINGTON. 

After Chattanooga — Political generals — (Grant's popularity in the country The 

temptation of the Presidency — The relief of Knoxsville — The Meridian raid 
— Made Lieiitenant-General — The correspondence between Grant and Sher- 
man — Grant's arrival in Washington ....... 481 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF RICHMOND. 

Colonel Charles Marshall- The country between the James and the Potomac 
— The disadvantage of scattering Federal forces— The Army of Northern 
Virginia — Lee's motive in concentrating the Confederates — .\ constant men- 
ace to the northern frontier — Easy access to Richmond — Grant's changing 
base of supplies^-The last move towards Washington .... co-" 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 

Grant on the Rapidan — Matched against Lee — What he thought of his army 

— Interesting reminiscences of Admiral Ammen — His judgment of Lee 

Crossing the river — The first day's fight— The fight preparations— Hancock's 
daybreak attack — Burnside's tardiness — The failure to ma'ss the troops— The 
Confederate assault — Fighting flame — A desperate attack^-The Confederate 
retreat— The Sedgwick disaster — The two generals en 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

GORDON OX THE WILDERNESS. 

Graphic Confederate story of Grant's first fight as Lieutenant-General — General 
Gordon's description of the field — A hand-to-hand conflict — The varying 
fortunes of the day^Warren's struggle with Ewell — Gordon strikes 'and 
breaks the Sixth corps— " A hellish attack"— General Lee rides over the 
field— His estimate of Grant— The movement from the field^Gordon at 
Spottsylvania .......... 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

OUT OF THE WILDERNESS. 

Lee foiled — The army satisfied with Grant— Flank march to Spottsylvania 

Warren's night march— Miscarriage of plans— Grant's practi-ed ear— Pulling 
his army through itself— Sheridan's fight at Todd's tavern— Butler lands at 

City Point — Still " On to Richmond " ryi 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

AT SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE. 

Nearer Richmond — Playing for position — Position of the two armies before the 
fight— Sedgwick's death— Crossing the Po— General Barlow's division in 
danger— Turning the enemy's flank— Hnncock's description of the w^ith- 
drawal— Upton's gallantry— Failure of Warren's and Wright's attack- 
Grant and Meade review the onset — Grant's disappointment — Magnificent 
manoeuvring — Grant's determination — " I propose to fight it out on this line 
if it takes all summer" .......... 1:44 



527 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

HANOXriC'S FAMOUS CHAROE. 

Cirint plan? the capture of the Confeilcraie salient — Hancock to do the work 

IMans for the .issiult— The midnight march — A straggling mule — Phantom 

soldiets— A gloomy night— The Druid council — Massing for the assault — On 
to the charge — " I-ct Mience, dead silence, be the awful menace, and break it 
onlv u iih the bayonet I " — Pouring into the enemy's works — A hand-to-hand 
conllict — Guns and prisoners — Holding the salient 557 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

CONH-UF.RATK LINE BROKEN. 

; , . ■ .. 'v^nia — How the iwo armies were drawn up — Lay of the 

. s story of the engagement — Hancock's charge on the 

. .,, ;,von's surpriseand capture — Gordon's desperate fight 

with Hancock — (.icm-ral Lee's sudden appearance — His anxiety — Gordon has 
I^e led from the field — Trees gnawed in twain by bullets — The most terrific 

battle of the war 574 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

CONFEDERATES IN THE SALIENT. 
General Stu.nrt's story of Hancock's charge — The location of the salient — Re- 
moving the artillery — Premonitions of battle — .\sking for more artillery — 
Waiting f">r the .attack — The situation at daylight — First view of the blue 
coats — Capture of the artillery — The scene in the angle — Map of the fortifi- 
cations — The surrender 5^' 

CHAPTER XL. 

THE ONSET AT COLD HARBOR. 
'^earching for a new place to strike — Back again to familiar ground — Going to- 
ward the North Anna — .Sheridan's cavalry and their work — Preparing to 
vtrike another blow at Lee — .\ general assault ordered — The bloody work 
of Cold Harbor — No results of importance — Between the Rapidan and James 591 

CHAPTER XLI. 

CONFEDKRATJVS AT COLD HARBOR. 

After Spottsylvania — The wear ami tear on the anny — .Moving to Cold Harbor 
and l>ev<>n<l — (jrant's thcor)' of the conflict — His tenacious grip — Handling 
his forcc-i with ••kill — .\n estimate of Grant and Lee — Summing up the cam- 

(>aign from the Rajidan to the James — The only way to whip Lee — Fright- 
ul losses 603 

CHAPTER XLII. 

CONFEDERATE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN. 
Colonel Vcnablc's recollections — Blocking the Federals — The fight in the Wil- 
dcme»5 — "Go back, (icncral Lee I " — The terrible second day's fight — 
Spottsylvania — Incidents of the .struggle — The desperate slaughter — The 
<lying soldier — The jH>sition at North Anna — Grant crosses the river — Back 
aj;ain— The march across the Peninsula — Before Petersburg . . . 60Q 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

ACROSS THE JAMt:S RIVER. 

I „., ihe Potomac — Grant's grand scheme — Butler 

1 urc to go in the movement of the 12th of June — 
I lu: .i.iini I .1 <> .i-niM;.;iMn — Ovcr-cautious gcncialship — .Smith's unneces- '^ 

%ary deliberation — Ixc in secure possession of Petersburg .... 622 
CHArrER XLIV. 

KARI.Y'S VALLEY CAMTAIC.N. 

Karly's . •rr-s ■rl- ri-(l (.. ;}u- V.iIK V IiiixitiL' Hunter away — Beating Sigel — 

Thr ton — Early crosses the Potomac ) 

— I 1 . before the Washington defences 

— |)iivcn ;=.i. •- ' :..inibcrsburg burned — Sheridan made 
commander of '.es — " Early whirling up the Valley" 
— Comj»lctc suttees HI .^ii<rii,\ns \ .illey cam|^ign ..... ojj 



CONTENTS. 13 

CHAPTER XLV. 

GORDON IN THE VALLEY. 

Hiiiiler in Virginia — TTis move to Kanawha — The ConfederUe advance on 
Washington — Slieiidan sent to the rescue — Gordon's siory of tlie campaign 
^Winchester — Overlooking the Federal camp at Cedar Creek — The attack 
at dawn — Defeat of the Federals — Sheridan's arrival — Defeat changed into 
victory — The valley clear .......... 639 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

THE DEPRESSION OF 1S64. 

Despondency of the American people — Ignorance of the nation about war — 
Clamoring for a conclusion — The war declared a failure — " Peace at any 
price" — The Northwestern conspiracy — Grant's remarkable letter to Ad- 
miral Ammen — His thorough knowledge of the situation — Fall of Atlanta 
— The cry for Sherman — The relations of the two generals . . . 645 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

SIDE-LIGHTS OF THE GREAT GAME. 

Lee loses the Weldon Railroad — Touching Lee's lines here and there — Move- 
ments north of the James — The battle of Chapin's farm — Cnpture of Fort 
Harrison — General Stannard's story of Grant's fearlessness in battle — Gen- 
eral Sherman's visit — Capture of Fort Steadman — Brealcing Hill's lines — 
President Lincoln comes to review the army and witnesses a battle — The be- 
ginning of the end ........... 654 

CHAPTER XLVHI. 

a; H. STEPHENS AND LONGSTREET. 

The Peace Commission — What Ben Hill said — Mr. Stephens' narrative — How 
the commissioners met the commander — Grant's rude head-quarters — A pen- 
picture of him — Interesting incidents of the meeting — Longstreet — Grant's 
anxiety for peace — Lee's position in the matter ...... 667 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. 

The spirit of the cavalry — The consulidation under Sheridan — The first raid — 
The hunt for Hunter — Wilson's raid — In the Shenandoah — Sheridan's 
officers — A Grant incident — Early's destruction — The move south — Five 
Forks — The character of the service — The end . . . ... 680 

CHAPTER L. 

GORDON BACK WITH LEE. 

Gordon ordered back to Richmond — Success of Grant in cutting ofT Confeder- 
ate supplies — A historical conference^Lee's profound depression — A mes- 
sage from Grant — The assault on Fort Steadman — The last desperate battle 
before Petersburg is evacuated — A characteristic incident — The failure — 
Gordon wounded — Death of Hill ........ 695 

CHAPTER LI. 

THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 

The armies of co-operation — The instructions to Sherman — " Penetrate the in- 
terior as far as you can " — Moving on Johnston — The evacuation of Dalton 
— Resaca — The assault on Kenesaw — McPherson killed — Fall of Atlanta — 
" Go as you propose " — The march begun — Buoyancy of the soldiers — Fright 
of the inhabitants — Arrival at Milledgeville — On to Savannah — Wheeler in 
the rear — At last . .......... 704 

CHAPTER LII. 

THE LAST YEAR OF STRIFE. 

How the armies were placed — Sheridan in the valley — Ord's movements — 
Visit of President Lincoln — He sees a battle instead of a review — Sherman 
arrives — His conversation with Lincoln — The understanding between them 
— Another great battle certain — Lincoln desires to avoid it — Sherman returns 
to Nortli Carolina — Sheridan . . . . . . . ..717 



1( CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER LIII. 

THE ARMV BEFoRfc PETKRSBURG. 
Failure to carry Petersburg hy assauU — De^nondency in the North — Enormous 
death-ruil — (jniit farther from Richmond — President Lincoln's firm confi- 
dence — iiis predictions — Hcvisit>City Point — (J|>erating against the Weldon 
Road — Huilcr's move on Deep Bottom — Battle of Reams' Siation — Fitzhugh 
Lee's cavalry l>ca!en — Souihsidc Railroad at Banksville torn up — Narrow es- 
cape of the Union cavalry — The army res'.ing — The siege begun . . 725 

CFIAPTER LIV. 

IN THE DEADLY CRATER. 
" Le« cannot feed reinforcements" — Grant has no fear of Johnston aiding Vir- 
gmia — The sie;;c train at Petersburg — Within short cannon range — Grant 
reinforcing — The Trans- Mississippi campaign discontinued — Preparing the 
mine — Its frightful dc>.tructiveness — Fatal delay of the assailants — Slaughter 
in the crater — Ihc troops withdrawn — Trying to fix the responsibility — No 
one to blame — The Confederate description . . . . . ■ 731 

CHAPTER LV. 

THE CONFEDERATE TROOPERS. 

The peculiarity of the Confederate cavalry — Fitzhugh Lee's recollections — The 
tight at To<id's Tavern — The move towards Richmond — Yellow Tavern — 
General Stuart monaily wounded — Major J. R. McNulty's recollections of the 
atTair — The fight at Five Forks — What Fitzhugh Lee advised his men — The 
surrender at Farmville ......... . 754 

CHAPTER LVL 

THE FLAG OF TRUCE. 

The cavalrymen standing to horse — An all-night vigil — The morning of the 
last day — Moving forward to the attack — The Confederate army at sunrise — 
Custer in the adv.mcc — The (lag 01 truce — .\ ride to the Confederate lines — 
Col. Brig^s' graphic dcscrijition of its coming and going — Meeting Long- 
street and Gordon — Custer and Sheridan ....... 759 

CHAPTER LVIL 

STOPPING THE FINAL CHARGE. 

Custer 4t .App'mnttox — .-Xcrnss Lee's line of retreat — Cavaln,* preparing to 
ch.irge — A biilliaiU nioniiiig pageant — A flag of truce — Custer's reply — 
Whittakcr hunting for Lee — l.ongstreet and Gordon's answer — Efforts to stop 
the firing — .\ Souili Carolina retjiment's determination — How the surrender 
was received — Elation of the Federal troops ...... 769 

CHAPTER LVIII. 

lee's army SIRRENDERED. 

Sheridan's cavalry on the w.nrpath — Attacking the enemy's communications — 
Brilliant cavalry manneiivrcs — The b.-ittles at Dinwiddie — Breaking over the 
lVtcr>l)urg ir<nchc* — (iallnnt assaults by the inf.intn,' — The lines pierced — 
The battle at Five Forks — Lee's right wing turned — Confederate retreat to- 
wards Petersburg — The city evacuated — Richmond falls — Lee in full retreat 
— Grant pursues to intercejit — Swiii marching and hard fighting — Grant pro- 
povr<i to I.ce to surrender — The corresiwndcnce — Closing battles — Lee's 
army surrounded — The surrender at Appomattox ..... 777 

CHAPTER LIX. 

THE RXriRINC <:LANCF:S OF STRIFE. 

Gordon's <tory of the final days — The Federal anxiety to prevent the juncture 
with Johnston — The Confederate conference — The deep aversion to surrender 
— < )nc last attempt — Its f.iilurc — The ll.ag of inicc — Sheridan rides into the 
Confederate Imrs— Gordon saves .Sherid.ui's life — The emotion of the Con- 
federate* at the surrender — Ixrc talks to the soldiers — His profound dejection 802 



CONTENTS. 13 

CHAPTER LX. 

THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 

General Grant's indifference to entering Richn.ond — Difference between him 
and other commanders — His interview wiiii the Secretary of War — Goes to 
Washington — Assassination of Linc^hi — Recalleil to the capital — Sherman's 
Protocol — Grant's interview with Stanion — Admiral Ammen's recollections 
— Grant's delicacy towards Sherman — The war ended .... 819 

CHAPTER LXI. • 

THE MEXICAN PERIL. 
The French attempt to establish a Mexican Empire — Grant's vigorous objections 
— His letter to Johnson on the subject — Admiral Ammen's recollections of 
the .situation — A query as to the strength of the navy — Seward's energetic 
note — Sheridan sent to the Southwest — The French evacuate Mexican soil — 
A war with France averted ...... . . • 837 

CHAPTER LXn. 

grant's troubles with JOHNSON. 
He stands like a stone wall between the ex-Confederates and punishment — His 
insist.ince upon the power of his parole — An incident told by Attorney-Gen- 
eral Garland — Swinging round the circle — His disgust — The proximity of a 
revolution — Grant's reply to Johnson — Sherman sent for — The effort to get 
Grant to Mexico — His refusal to go — His regret at his first nomination to the 
Presidency ............. 844 

CHAPTER LXni. 
grant as president. 
Grant's nomination in 1S68 — The last States readmitted to the Union — " Let us 
have peace " — The fifteenth amendment — Condition of the South — The Force 
bill — The Republican revolt — Defeat of Greeley — The panic of 1873 — The 
inflation period — Bill for the res'jmption of specie payments — The Geneva 
award — The Centennial — The Electoral Commission — Review of his civil 
career ........... . . 857 

CHAPTER LXIV. 

GRANT AND THE SUPREME COURT. 

Grant and tlie judiciary — Ju-tice Miller's recollections of him as President — 
His judicial appointments — Grant in society — An interesting companion — 
His quality of silence — The value of his appointments — His simplicity — An 
interesting estimate of his character ........ 873 

CHAPTER LXV. 

TOUCHING DIPLOMACY. 

The international questions during Grant's terms — His admirable choice o a 
secretary of state — Mr. Fish's recollections of his chief — His desire to con- 
ciliate the South — Grant's leading traits — His trustfulness of character — His 
readiness to yield to proper influences — Belief in Christianity — Love and ten- 
derness for his family — \Vho our new military leaders would be . . . 879 

CHAPTER LXVI. 

TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 

His desire for travel — Mr. Childs' parting hospitalities — The departure — Arrival 
at Liverpool — Reception in London by the Queen of England — Trip to the 
continent — .\mong the working classes of Great Britain — Visit to the Paris 
Exhibition — In Egypt — Sight-seeing among the ancient tombs — To the Holy 
Land — In Con-tantinople — Grant and the Pope at Rome — Through Venice 
and Milan — To Holland — Grant's historic interview with Bismarck — With 
the Em;-veror of Russia — At the Court of Vienna — Visit to King Alfonso of 
Spain — In India, China, and Japan — Among the emperors — Homeward 
bound — Grand ovation of welcome at San Francisco ..... 887 



14 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER LXVII. 

THE CoNVfcNTIOS OK l8So. 
General Grant on a third term— His return from Europe— The raovenient for 
hi> nomination— The acrimony aroused— The convention — Conklinji's mas- 
terly oration — The 306 — GarlieM nominated — Blaines Stale lost — Grant to 
the rescue— What the result proved— An interview with the General on the 

subject 965 

CHAPTER LXVHI. 

m1. CHII-DS' REC(1LI.ECTIONS. 

Grant's relations with Mr. Childs— No form ilities between lliem — Early associa- 
(j, .. I ; . • - ... rirtist — A new trait in his character — Hi^ frien>ily relations 
^^ What he said about Tildeii — The Electoral Commission 

_ : : his fatal illness- His smoking habits — His memory — 

General rcmioistcuccs . . • • • -975 

CHAPTER LXIX. 

COLONEL MCCLURE'S ESTIMATE. 
The great men of the war period — Lincoln, Stevens, and Thomas — Compara- 
tive estimates of the three — The Lincoln cabinet and its jealousies — General 
Grant's ix)sitiv>n in history — An incident of the early d.ays of the war — 
Grant's recognition of the situation- What Stanton said .... 995 

CHAPTER LXX. 

THE commander's LAST DAYS. 
General ^'.rani's last sickness— The pathos of his iwiiight days — His sufferings 
u\ ' ic — The beginning of the end — The work ujvon his book — The 
c . liic— His sixiythird birthday — The att.ack of .\pril — Taken to 
Mi ...,.-.,. .r — General Buckner's visit — National grief — Reunion of the 
kcctioiu— His last pathetic letter — Death looi 

CHAPTER LXXI. 

THE LAST TAITOO. lOjI 

Uy Henry Guy Carlton 



INTRODUCTION. 



By REV. J. P. NEWMAN, D.D. 



The published life of General Grant will occupy a large 
place in American literature. His forty years of obscu- 
rity, his four years of wonderful military achievements, 
and as many more as general of the army in times of 
peace, his eight years of civil administration, his two 
years of travel in many lands, his six years of retirement 
from public duties, his beautiful domestic life, his unique 
and glorious character, his financial misfortunes, his ter- 
rible sufferings during months of sickness, his peaceful 
death, his imposing funeral, and his world-wide and 
enduring fame, will never fail to attract the attention and 
excite the interest of his fellow-men. There is a touch 
of romance in his sudden and rapid emergence from his 
obscure life in Galena, to his eminence of power and 
fame as commander of the largest army of modern times. 
Fort Sumter fell April 13, 1861. President Lincoln called 
for 75,000 troops on the 15th. Grant organized a com- 
pany of volunteers in Galena, on the 19th. He offered 
his services to Governor Yates, of Illinois, on the 21st, 
and within thirty days thereafter he was appointed colo- 
nel of the Twenty-first Illinois Infantry. On the 31st of 
July he was in command at Mexico, Mo^ On the 7th 
of August he was made a brigadier-general. On the 
1 6th of February, 1862, he was appointed a major-gene- 
ral of volunteers, and on March 2d, 1864, he was com- 
missioned Lieutenant - General of the Army of the 

15 



16 INTR OD UCTION B V 

United States, In vain he had written to the War 
Department for permission to fight for his coun- 
try in a position justified by the mihtary education 
lie had received at the nations expense. In vain he 
went to Cincinnati to find a place on McClellan's 
staff. In vain he sought the favor of Fremont and the 
confidence of Halleck, yet like some majestic river, 
impeded in its course, that calls upon all its tributaries 
until it flows unvexed to the sea, so he gathered 
strentTth to face all obstacles and compel adversity to 
do his biddine- In all those four years he sou-dit no 
position of power, he aspired to no rank of glory, he 
was not the willing rival of any man, yet promotion, suc- 
cess, pre-eminence came to him as to no other in Ameri- 
can annals. And then, as by acclamation, he became 
the successor of the illustrious Washington in military 
rank and civil position, and thenceforth was esteemed 
the pride of the army, the joy of his country and the 
glory of this remarkable age. 

The story of such a life will throw its charm over the 
on-coming ages, and future generations will read it with 
wonder and admiration. And as they read of his mighty 
batdes, his wonderful victories, his power over nu-n, the 
enthusiasm his presence kindled, the ovations he re- 
ceived, the honor which came to him from all nations, 
they will search with patient delight for the secret of his 
wonderful career. And those who aid them in this 
search, whether by voice or pen, by poem, oration, or 
biography, will be called benefactors. And in this happy 
light the au4|^ of the " Life and Deeds of General U. 
S. Grant " will be regarded by the present and succeeding 
generations. His task is difficult, sublime and patriotic. 
He unfolds the wondrous life of the most wondcrfiil man 
of this century, and records the deeds of a soldier and 



REV. J. P. NEWMAN. 17 

statesman, whose image on the thought and love of the 
world will reappear in the ages till the end of time. 
History will sustain him in this estimate of the great 
hero, and thousands will read his pages with untold de- 
light. His vigorous and elegant pen will give to the 
public what the modesty of the departed General would 
not permit him to write in his " Personal Memoirs," and 
will increase the public interest therein and thus add to 
the wealth of that legacy bequeathed by the noblest of 
husbands to the truest of wives. He has written of the 
illustrious man, whose life and deeds are worthy of all 
praise, with a devotion, admiration and enthusiasm, which 
the future will verify, for the immortality of Grant's fame 
is well assured. He is sublime in his isolation. He is 
so truly great that it is not necessary to cast others down 
from the pedestals of their well-deserved renown to find 
for him a pedestal of exaltation. 

Mankind will cherish his name while they continue to 
love liberty, revere wisdom, esteem purity, admire self- 
abnegation, honor and patriotism. He suffers in noth- 
ing by way of contrast or comparison with those 
whom the nation is bound to hold in grateful remem- 
brance. No one can take the place of Washington in 
the affections of the American people. His high mis- 
sion was to resist the tyranny of a foreign power, to 
fight the battle of human rights, to achieve American 
independence, to create a new nation and protect its life 
by a constitution which, to-day, is the guide of all people 
who assert their liberty. Grant's high mission was to 
resist armed rebellion against constitutional authority, 
to rescue the Union from dissolution, to "re-instate the 
Federal authority over all the square miles of the 
national domain, to vindicate the suffrages of a free 
people in their choice of President, to overthrow a con- 

B 



18 INTRODUCTION BY 

federacy founded on slavery, to elevate labor, spread 
education, defend religion, promote charity and make 
the American Republic a pride and joy in all coming 
time. Their relative positions cannot be reversed, or 
the armies they commanded, or the work they had to 
accomplish. Washington's place was at the beginning 
of the century ; Grant's place was at the end of the 
century. As creator and saviour they clasped hands 
over the stretch of a hundred years. 

It is equally unnecessary and unjust to depreciate 
Lincoln to exalt Grant. They supplemented each other. 
One held the pen of authority, the other the sword of 
execution. Both were leaders of men. Both did indis- 
pensable work, which the other was in no condition to 
perform. Both rose to the supremacy ordained by 
Providence. Both resolved that the Union should sur- 
vive and slavery die. Both shall live forever in the 
heart of the American people. 

If constrained to measure the true greatness of 
Grant by way of parallels, we should judge him by those 
heroes of the past whom the world has been taught to 
esteem great. But Grant's counterpart is more closely 
found in Wellington than in any other man of renown, in 
ancient or modern times. Both had quickness of percep- 
tion, keenness of sagacity, marvelous self-control, and pru- 
dence, promptitude and enterprise. They were men of the 
sternest honesty, the strictest truthfulness and the highest 
moral heroism. Neither would misrepresent to serve his 
own fame. Neither would permit his troops to plunder 
a captured dt)' or an enemy's country when conquered. 
Both conciliated the vanquished. Both were governed by 
the highest motives. Both were firm, tranquil and stubborn 
in resisting an assault, and bold, obstinate and vehement 
in an attack upon the foe. They reminded us of a batter- 



REV. J. P. NEWMAN. 19 

ing-ram that strikes straight and hard till the walls fall 
before their resistless blows. Both rose from the lowest 
to the highest, — Wellington from a commissioned ensign ; 
Grant from a brevet-lieutenant. , Both were suspended 
after a signal victory. Yet both rose to supreme com- 
mand. Wellington was aided by a fortunate concurrence 
of accidents. Rain and a ravine gave him Waterloo. 
But there was little or no luck in Grant's life. He con- 
quered by pure intellect ; by a sublime faith, by a per- 
sonal prowess that made him equal to the supreme 
moment. His was not brute force. He was not a man 
of happy accidents. He forced his way up throuo-h 
untold odds. Too many have wrongfully regarded him 
as a tenacious, persistent, plodding soldier, without the 
high intellectual qualities of a great general. His 
intellect has been under-rated, and largely so from his 
simple manners, his plainness of speech and the direct- 
ness of his actions. Only a few are capable to discern 
a great mind under appearances so plain. But in calm- 
ness of judgment, in quickness and accuracy of his 
imagination, in vastness and tenaciousness of memory 
he was superior. Reason was his dominant faculty. He 
was a natural logician. He moved from premise to 
conclusion, from proposition to demonstration with the 
celerity of lightning. He descended to the smallest de- 
tail ; he rose to the highest generalization. His under- 
standing was like the tent in story — fold it and it was a 
toy in the hand of a lady ; spread it, and the mighty 
armies of the Republic might repose beneath its shade. 
He could comprehend a continent with greater ease than 
others could master an island. Under his vast and compre- 
hensive plans a continent shook beneath the tramp of 
advancing armies. As out of some immense mental 
reservoir there flowed a futility of resources displayed in 



20 INTRODUCTION BY 

an hundred batdes, in the greatest emergencies, and in a 
three-fold campaign, carried forward at the same time 
without confusion and each the part of one stupendous 
whole. 

His fund of knowledge was immense. Converse 
with him on any subject and he would surprise you by 
an incisive remark that let in a llood of light. He could 
converse with warriors on their battles, with statesmen 
on their measures, with artists on their creations, with 
artisans on their inventions, with travelers on their dis- 
coveries, with philosophers on their theories, with theo- 
logians on their dogmas and with Christians on their 
hopes. 

He was fully conversant with his own country, its 
geography, its rivers, lakes and seas, its mineral and 
agricultural wealth, its domestic and foreign trade, the 
habits of its cosmopolitan population, its systems of 
education, charity and religion. Who was better posted 
than he on the intricacies and complications of the 
tariff, on dutiable articles of import and export ? With 
what accuracy he recalled names, dates, figures, persons 
and facts. After he had returned from his circuit of 
the globe he was a most intelligent, and at times, bril- 
liant conversationalist on the governments, the rulers 
and statesmen, the resources, the military systems, the 
home and foreign policies, the literature, the social and 
religious conditions of Europe, Asia and Africa. It was 
this superiority of intellect, this quickness of mind, this 
vast information that caused our ablest citizens to defer 
to his judgment and feel embarrassed in his presence. 

The greatness of his intellect should be judged by the 
obstacles he surmounted, by the vastncss of the military 
problems he mastered, and by the magnitude of the 
results he achieved. Four months after the first gun 



REV. J. P. NEWMAN. 21 

was fired the Confederacy was a nation as if it had had 
the growth of a century. Its territory was half the size 
of ancient Rome, and inhabited by miUions of wealthy, in- 
telligent, warlike people. The Confederates were of 
the conquering race, and commanded by the greatest 
of generals. They were supplied with all the munitions 
of war, supported by obedient slaves, and cheered by 
the sympathy of all Europe ; yet within four years, from 
Paducah to Richmond, that colossal power vanished from 
the vision of the world, before the genius of Grant. 
He mastered the deep philosophy of the relation of 
means to end. 

Napoleon did not comprehend his Russian and Water- 
loo campaigns, as Grant did his threefold campaign, 
which he outlined to Sherman, and which was justified 
by the magnitude of the results. And how did he leave 
the North in the final victory ? Impoverished, divided, 
hopeless ? No ! Frederick left Prussia torn and poor 
and all for a small strip of country. Napoleon left an 
army in Egypt, wrecked an army in Russia, surrendered 
Paris, left France a charnel-house and Europe a desola- 
tion. But Grant left the North rich, harmonious and 
powerful, with a nation redeemed. By the terms he 
granted Lee he sowed the seeds of peace at Appomattox 
and reaped the harvest of national union at Riverside. 

When he rose to supreme command, the nation de- 
manded one dominant spirit, mighty to grasp, strong to 
execute, powerful to inspire. The country was one, the 
Rebellion was one and the armies of the Union should 
be one ; and the general who could mold, control, inspire 
an army a million strong, and make them think, feel and 
fight as one man, was the desire of the Republic. To 
be everywhere present at once by his spirit and orders 
was in him a realized fact. His laconic order was : "All 



22 INTR OD UC TION B Y 

strike together." He imparted to all his own spirit, and 
all things became possible to his faith. The nation felt 
the mighty change, and the Rebellion went down beneath 
the power of one master mind. He was the logician of 
the war. He conquered by logic. He reasoned out his 
victories. In all the annals of war there is no such 
splendid reasoning on the certainty of results. Others 
have conquered by the superiority of material force, but 
he by the superiority of mind over mind. 

But he should not be degraded to the level of those 
famous heroes who fought for empire and for glory. 
Lift him up to a higher pedestal, around which shall for- 
ever stand Justice, and Liberty, and Peace, and Law, and 
Order, and Civilization, and Religion, with chaplets in 
their hands wherewith to crown him. He fought for the 
right ; to end the war ; he conquered a peace. He hated 
war. He looked upon it as a ghastly monster whose 
march is to the music of the widow's siofh and the 
orphan's cry. He loved peace and pursued it, " Blessed 
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children 
of God," was his beatitude. In his London speech in 
1877, he said: "Although a soldier by education and 
profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for 
war, and I have never advocated it except as a means ol 
peace," This was the energy of his courage. 

He would not waste life and treasure to o^ain advan- 

o 

tages while the means were left to the enemy to regain 
them. He understood the necessity of sacrifice to 
achieve a greater advantage. He surrendered the lesser 
to obtain the greater. He was not indifferent to the 
preciousness of human life. Did he expose his troops? 
He protected them by shortening the time of the war and 
by the greater vigor of his attacks. His was the arith- 
metic of blood. Some Quintus Fabius Maximus would 



REV. /. P. NEWMAN. 23 

have sacrificed a hundred thousand more men and $350,- 
000,000 more treasure by the slowness of his movements 
and the feebleness of his efforts. " How can I save my 
country and prevent the greater effusion of blood ?" was 
his supreme question ; and his supreme answer was : 
" By an energy that knows no defeat." 

Such is the character of the true conqueror. Only 
such live in the happy recollections of mankind. Away 
with heroes without humanity! They may force our re- 
spect and seduce our admiration, but they can never win 
our love. God planted goodness in man as the image 
of himself. Greatness should spring from goodness. 
This is the price of hearts. Away with your Alexanders 
and Caesars and Tamerlanes ! Let them be to our Chris- 
tian civilization what the gigantic monsters of a departed 
period are in zoological history — types of an inferior 
age In the oncoming centuries mankind will honor only 
those who drew the sword in defense of human rights and 
in support of the constitutional authority. Then, All hail, 
Mount Vernon! All hail, Mount M'Greqror! 

From this better nature and higher mission as a war- 
rior sprang his conduct toward the vanquished. He had 
no hatred in his heart. His heart was as tender as a 
woman's. He was not vindictive. His holy evangel to 
the nation was, " Let us have peace." Hence, toward the 
close of the war, those who had fought against him saw 
that there was no safety but in the arms of their conquer- 
or. In his dying chamber he grasped the hand of him 
"whose sword was the first he had won, and said : " I have 
witnessed since my sickness just what I wished to see ever 
since the war — harmony and good feeling between the 
sections." On holy Easter he sent forth this tender mes- 
sage : " I desire the good-will of all, whether hitherto my 
friends or not." His was the song of the angels : 



24 INTR OD UCTION B V 

" On earth peace, good will toward men." 
This has been the softening ministry of his sufferings 
to his countrymen. God permitted him to see this 
glorious consummation. Our sorrow is National in 
the broadest sense. And to-dav, where the magnolia 
blooms and the palmetto grows, the " men in grey " 
weep as over the death of their best friend. And had 
he lived to see a foreign foe invade our shores, North 
and South would have chosen him to lead us to defend 
our liberty. 

Doubtless, he will be best known in coming ages as 
the foremost soldier of the Republic. Unknown gener- 
ations will read his battles with \yonder and admiration. 
In every hamlet, in every metropolis, his martial form 
will be cast in bronze and sculptured in marble. Histor- 
ians will vie with each other in paying homage to his gen- 
ius ; but the time will come when men everywhere will 
recoernize the o^reatness and beneficence of his adminis- 
tration as President of the United States. It were a 
crime against history and an injustice to his memory 
were we to lose sight of the statesman amid the glor}' of 
the warrior. Such was the magnitude of those great 
measures of State, of domestic and foreign policy ; so 
far-reaching their influence, so comprehensive their mis- 
sion, that generations may pass from the vision of the 
world ere the true and full estimate of his political worth 
shall be determined. Then his Administration of eight 
years will receive the calm consideration and just ap- 
proval of his countrymen. When the memories of party 
strife shall have been forgotten ; when the disappointed 
aspirations for office shall have ceased to lestcr; when 
the rivals for place and power are no more ; then, as 
comes the sun from the mist of the morning, so shall his 
Administration appear in greatest splendor. Then the 



REV. /. F. NEWMAN. 25 

historian of that calmer age will wonder how a soldier 
by endowment and education, accustomed only to camp 
and field, unlearned in statecraft, unfamiliar with political 
science, unacquainted with the methods of civil adminis- 
tration, could have displayed such breadth of statesman- 
ship in the measures which he originated and approved. 

Great and beneficent as were his measures of recon- 
struction, of amendments to tke constitution, of finance, 
of the improvement of the laboring classes, of the just 
treatment of the Indians, of the elevation of the freed- 
men, of the promotion of education, and of the conces- 
sions he compelled foreign powers to make, yet, in the 
interests of universal peace, in the ultimate recognition 
of the brotherhood of nations, in the advancement of 
Christian civilization in all the earth, the treaty of Wash- 
inoton will be esteemed of immeasurable erandeur and 
beneficence, not to be estimated by millions of dollars, 
but by the possibility and prophecy that all international 
disputes may be adjusted by peaceful arbitration, when 
" nations shall learn war no more." Such was his dream of 
the future, expressed to the International Arbitration Union 
in Birmingham, England, when he said: " Nothing would 
afford me greater happiness than to know, as I believe 
will be the case, that at some future day the nations of 
the earth will agree upon some sort of congress which 
shall take cognizance of international questions of diffi- 
culty, and whose decision, will be as binding as the deci- 
sion of our Supreme Court is binding upon us." 

His was the genius of common sense, enabling him to 
contemplate all things in their true relations, judging 
what is true, useful, proper, expedient, and to adopt the 
best means to accomplish the largest ends. From this 
came his seriousness, thoughtfulness, penetration, discern- 
ment, firmness, enthusiasm, triumph. Wherein others 



26 INTR OD UCTION B Y 

dreamed of success he foresaw defeat ; wlien others 
expected despair he discovered ground of hope. What 
were contrasts to others were comparisons to him. He 
often stood alone in his judgment and plans ; and it is 
the enduring compliment to his practical sense that the 
blunders committed by others on military and political 
questions were the result of plans which never had his 
approval. In war and in 'peace he was the wisest and 
safest guide this nation has had since " the Father of his 
Country " ascended to his reward. 

To his clear and certain imao^ination the future loomed 
before him clothed with the actuality of the present. 
Read his military orders, and they prophesy the history 
of the battles he fought. He foresaw the enemy's plans 
as though he had assisted at their councils of war. He 
was one of those extraordinary men who, by the suprem- 
acy of their wills, force all obstacles to do their bidding. 
By the promptitude of his action he left no time for its 
contravention. Times, places and persons he compre- 
hended with mathematical accuracy. Nothing escaped 
his penetration. Such was the p.erpetual calmness of his 
intellect that he could transact the most important affairs 
when the storm of battle was raging at its height. 

His soul was the home of hope, sustained and cheered 
by the certainties of his mind and the power of his faith. 
His was the mathematical genius of a great general 
rather than of a great soldier. By this endowment he 
proved himself equal to the unexpected, and that with 
the precision of a seer. " The race is not to the swift 
nor the battle to the strong," because the unexpected 
happens to every man. The grandest campaigns are 
often defeats, the most brilliant plans are unconsummated, 
tlie most wished-for opportunities are unrealized, because 
batlied by the unexpected at the very moment of ex- 



REV. /. P. NEWMAN. 27 

pected fulfillment. But he appeared greatest in the 
presence of the unforeseen. Then came an inspiration 
resistless as the march of a whirlwind, as when on the 
second night of the battle of the Wilderness, when he 
changed the entire front of the line of battle, and quietly 
said, in response to a messenger, " If Lee is in my rear, I 
am in his." 

In the history of a great general there come supreme 
moments, when long-maturing plans are to be consum- 
mated and long-deferred hopes are to be realized. Some 
men can work up to that point and excite the admiration 
of mankind by the care and push wherewith they move 
toward the objective, but fail in the crucial moment. 
The preparations of this wonderful man rarely excited 
the applause of the people, because the workings of his 
masterful mind were hidden beneath the silence of his 
lips ; but when the supreme moment came, there came 
also an intellectual elevation, an uplifting of the whole 
being, a transformation of the silent, thoughtful general, 
which surprised his foes and astonished his friends. He 
culminated at the crisis. He was at his best when most 
needed. He responded in an emergency. 

He is one of the few men in history who did more 
than was expected. Some men excite great expectation 
by the brilliancy of their preparations; but this quiet, 
meditative, undemonstrative man exceeded all expecta- 
tions by doing more than he had promised, and by doing 
what all others had failed to do. Others had done their 
best with a conscientiousness worthy of all praise ; they 
had worked up to their maximum strength, and accom- 
plished much ; they had contributed largely to the final 
victory, and shall receive well of their country. It was 
no fault of theirs if nature had not endowed them for the 
ultimate achievement. But this man, pre-eminent by the 



28 INTR OD UCTION B Y 

happy combination of both nature and Providence, rose 
superior to the supreme moment, forced all things to do 
his bidding, and, like another Joshua, could have com- 
manded sun and moon to stand still to illuminate his 
final path to victory. His latent resources seemed inex- 
haustible. Was Fort Donelson esteemed impregnable ? 
It yielded to his demand for an immediate and " uncon- 
ditional surrender." Did Vicksburg defy his sixth plan 
of capture? His seventh plan was a success. Did 
Richmond hurl defiance at ail previous attempts ? His 
final effort was a triumph, and over the doomed capital 
of the Confederacy triumphantly floated the flag of the 
'Union. 

Such were his untold, hidden resources of adaptation, 
ever unfolding to meet the demand of new situations, 
that he would have proved hunself equal to any position 
of trust and to any emergency that might arise. 

And whether in camp or Cabinet, in private or public, 
at home or abroad, how pure and commendable his moral 
character ! Life in the camp has proved ruinous to the 
morals of tlie greatest warriors. The excitement of a 
life devoted to arms, the scenes of excess and plunder to 
which a soldier is exposed, the absence of the restraints 
of home and church, tend to the worst of passions and to 
the corruption of the best morals. After five years in 
camp and field he returned to his home without a stain 
upon his character. Among the ancient or modern war- 
riors where shall we find his superior in moral elevation? 
Given to no excess himself, he sternly rebuked it in 
others. He who could speak to every one according to his 
station, and who could be the delightful companion of 
kings and queens, of courtiers and chosen friends, never 
took the name of his Creator in vain, and an impure 
story never polluted his lips. He assured me, as his 



REV. J. p. NEWMAN. 29 

pastor, that were he disposed to swear he would be com- 
pelled to pause to phrase the sentence. Such was the 
purity of his thought-life that he has been seen to blush 
and withdraw from the companionship of those who had 
presumed to relate a salacious story in his presence. 

Gentle, true, and kind, gratitude was one of the noblest 
emotions of his soul. His words were few, but pregnant 
with p-rateful recognition. To one who had been a friend 
in need he declared : " I am glad to say that while there 
is much unblushing wickedness in the world, yet there is 
a compensating grandeur of soul. In my case I have not 
found that republics are ungrateful, nor are the people." 
And so he had expressed himself in his speech in New 
York in 1880: "I am not one of those who cry out 
against the Republic and charge it with being ungrate- 
ful. I am sure that, as regards the American people as a 
nation, and as individuals, I have every reason under the 
sun, if any person really has, to be satisfied with their 
treatment of me." When restored to the Army as Gen- 
eral and retired on full pay,- he was deeply touched ; and 
taking the wife of his youth by the hand he read the tele- 
gram which announced the fact, while, more eloquent 
than words, tears of gratitude to the nation moistened 
those cheeks never blanched with fear. 

He followed the divine maxim : " Before honor is 
humility." It is difficult to be victorious and not be 
proud. Military success leaves in the mind an exquisite 
pleasure, which fills and absorbs the thoughts. The con- 
queror ascribes to himself superiority of capacity and 
force. He crowns himself with his own hands ; he de- 
crees to himself a secret triumph ; he regards as his own 
the laurels others helped to gather; and when he renders 
to God public thanks he mingles his vanity with his devo- 
tions. But read his orders ; read the reports of his vie- 



30 INTRODUCTION BY 

tories ; read the memoirs of his Hfe ; how he praises his 
great subordinates and the Army and Navy that did the 
fio-htinfr. Behold the contrast in the oreneral orders and 
reports of batdes by the first Napoleon and those by this 
unpretentious conqueror. What pride and boldness in 
the one ; what humility and modesty in the other. And 
who, in all these four lustra since the strife was over ; 
in the decade since he retired from the chair of State, 
with a name great in both hemispheres, has ever heard 
him speak of his deeds of valor or the success of his ad- 
ministration ? " Let another praise thee, and not thine 
own lips." 

" In honor preferring one another," was the inspired 
maxim of his life. How evident his delight in announc- 
ing the triumphs of those great generals who fought under 
him! And here, let us recall the tender and constant 
friendship of Grant and Sherman and Sheridan. They 
were as one man. They acted without anxiety. There 
was in them a concurrence of thought, motive, and aim, 
born of mutual confidence. They were at once the sup- 
plement and converse of each other. He was profound 
in reflection; they acted by sudden illumination. He 
was cool without languor ; they ardent without precipi- 
tation. He was more ready to act than to speak, and 
most resolute and determined when most silent ; they 
most eloquent in words and deeds when executing the 
plans of their chief. He created in them the expectation 
of something extraordinary; they sought to reach those 
prodigies which crowned his life as the most consummate 
General. He, by his rapid and constant efforts, won the 
admiration of the world ; they rejoiced to shine in the 
association of his glory. He, by the depth of his genius 
and his incredible resources, rose superior to the greatest 
dangers ; they, by an admirable instinct, seemed born to 



REV. J. P. NEWMAN. 81 

draw fortune Into their plans and force destiny itself. 
What a privilege to study these men and learn from each 
the esteem the other merited. But, Alas ! the trinity is 
broken. Grant is dead ! 

Yet he was not a stoic, Insensible alike to pain and 
pleasure ; indifferent to public opinion or careless about 
his honor or rights. He loved the praise of men when 
the reward of honorable action. He was a sensitive, 
high-spirited, manly man, who had the will and the 
couracje to contend to the last for what was his due. If 
he reviled not when reviled, he accepted the divine phi- 
losophy that a " soft answer turneth away wrath." If he 
was patient under misrepresentation, he trusted Him 
who said, '• Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the 
Lord." Was he silent under reproach ? He preferred 
the greater satisfaction of the reversion of public opinion. 
Only those permitted to hear the whispers of his sensi- 
tive heart knew the grief and anguish he experienced 
when maligned by Ignorance, prejudice, and disappointed 
aspirants. He had meekness, but it was not a base sur- 
render of self-respect. His Indignation could burn like 
a mountain on fire, but he never permitted himself to be 
consumed by Its volcanic eruptions. He knew his ene- 
mies, and treated them with a withering silence that has 
passed Into a proverb. He knew his friends, and, true 
to his knighdy soul, supported them in "good report and 
evil." But he never was the companion of bad men, and 
when he discovered In a pretended friend deception or 
dishonesty or immorality, he shook him off as Christ re- 
jected Judas. His was the language of the Psalmist: 
" In whose eyes a vile person Is contemned." His pri- 
vate friendships were refined, and he found his chief 
delight in the society of the true, the pure, and the ele- 
vated. He discerned character with the precision of a 



32 INTR OD UCTION B V 

prophet. His great subordinates are in proof. His 
chief associates in the affairs of State are ilkistrations. 
And the marvel of the aees will be that throuoh a lone 
and responsible public career he was so seldom deceived 
when on the highest authority it is said: "Satan himself 
is transformed into an angel of light" to deceive the very 
elect. It has been the ill-fortune of the best and wisest 
of men, from Moses to David, from David to Paul, from 
Paul to Luther, to be deceived by pretended friends. 
Csesar had his Brutus. Washington had his Arnold. 
Christ had his Judas. 

And the world mistakes the character of our illustrious 
countryman in supposing that he was without self-appre- 
ciation. He knew his power and realized his strength. 
His humility .was not born of self-ignorance ; his self- 
abnegation was not inspired by contempt for the reward 
of noble deeds. He was not indifferent to the approba- 
tion of his fellow-men, nor was his car deaf to the voice 
of praise. He loved fame, but he did not seek it. He 
loved power, but he did not aspire to it. He loved 
wealth, but he did not covet it. He was a man with all 
the passions and appetites of human nature ; and to 
make him other than a well-poised, self-mastered man 
would be an injustice to his memory. But he was wiser 
than hjs celebrated contemporaries, in that he would not 
suffer himself to be unmanned by popular applause, or 
the exercise of power, or the possession of wealth, or 
crushed by misfortune, or disheartened by suffering. In 
this he was greater than the great of his own age. 

He loved life and enjoyed it; he loved children and 
caressed them ; he loved his family and found therein 
his chief dcliglit. He liad not a taste for music, but he 
had melody in his heart. He despised pretense and 
show, but admired the real and beautiful. He was not 



REV. J. P. NEWMAN. 33 

fond of books, yet by carefulness of observation, by 
thoroughness of reflection, by attentiveness to the con- 
versation of the well informed, by extensive travels in 
many lands, by the daily study of current events, he was 
the most intelligent citizen in our Republic. He was a 
living encyclopaedia of facts, figures and men, and his 
forthcoming memoirs will astonish the reader with his 
accurate estimate of persons, the keenness of his obser- 
vations and the vastness of his information. 

Out of his great character came the purest motives, 
as effect follows cause. He abandoned himself to his 
life mission with the hope of no other reward than the 
consciousness of duty done. Duty to his conscience, his 
country and his God was his standard of successful 
manhood. With him true greatness was that in great 
actions our only care should be to perform well our part 
and let glory follow virtue. He placed his fame in the 
service of the State. He was never tempted by false 
glory. He never acted for effect. He acted because he 
could not help it. His action was spontaneous. Ambi- 
tion could not corrupt his patriotism ; calumnies could 
not lessen it ; discouragements could not subdue it. It 
was not a sudden outburst of the imagination, but an in- 
telligent conviction. He committed all to the great 
struggle to save his country. There was a time when he 
preferred that his military' genius should suffer momen- 
tary depreciation rather than hazard the cause of the 
Union by revealing the vastness of his plans, which re- 
quired time to unfold. Who does not recall the time 
when an ardent, patriotic people became impatient, exact- 
ing, clamorous for immediate results. But he had the 
energy of silence. His self-control was equal to the im- 
patience of the nation. How calm and unruffled was he ! 

He knew that time was an essential element in a war so 
c 



34 INTRODUCTION BY 

vast and complicated. He could wait. He did wait. 
And a grateful people bless his memory. And with a 
nation redeemed, peaceful and prosperous, who does not 
regret the cloud cast over him at Pittsburgh Landing, at 
Vicksburgh and in the Wilderness? He made no reply. 
He spoke no word of complaint He offered no self-vin- 
dication. He knew his plans, and felt assured of success. 
O ! great soul, forgive our impatience ; forget our lack 
of confidence ; blot from thy memory our cruel censures. 
Thou wert wiser and kindlier and better than we. We 
did it in the ardor of our patriotism and in our love of 
liberty. And from the serene heavens into which thou 
hast gone, join our song as we praise that God who gave 
thee the victory and us a redeemed nation. 

The martyrs of one age are the prophets of the next. 
Fame succeeds defamation. Time changes all things. 
Washington endured a like ordeal. His neutrality pro- 
clamation touching the war between France and Hng- 
1-and, and his treaty with England, gave mortal offense. 
His action was denounced in Philadelphia, New York 
and Boston. His mock funeral was enacted in Philadel- 
phia. The treaty was burned in public squares. His 
character was aspersed. He was declared destitute of 
merit as a statesman. He was charged with having vio- 
lated the Constitution ; with having drawn from the public 
treasury for his private use, and his impeachment was 
publicly suggested. Time has changed the verdict of 
the people. He is now enthroned in the hearts of his 
countrymen ; and so shall his illustrious successor for- 
ever dwell in the grateful affections of the American 
people. 

If now we lay upon the altar of his memor)', as our 
votive offerings, our liberty, our wealth and our homes, 
let us learn to be cautious in our decisions on the acts 



I 



REV. J. P. NEWMAN. 35 

of our public servants, and slow In our censures upon 
those whom time may prove our greatest benefactors. 

And where, in all the annals of our national life, shall we 
find another, save the sage of Mount Vernon, M^ho was 
so truly a typical American ? Is it true that his personal 
qualities were not brilliant ; that his salient points were 
not conspicuous; that in running parallels between him 
and other men of fame, a feeling of disappointment is 
experienced because there is not on the surface some 
prodigious element of power and greatness ? Yet he had 
this double advantage over all the world's heroes — he 
possessed the solid virtues of true greatness in a larger 
degree than other men of renown, and possessed them 
in greater harmony of proportions. Some heroes have 
been men of singular virtue in particular lines of con- 
duct. Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, was distinguished 
for his moderation and courage. Aristides the Just 
scorned the bribes offered by Mardonius. The patriot- 
ism of Leonidas was proof against the temptation of un- 
counted gold. Regulus was the soul of Roman honor, 
and accepted exile and death In preference to infamy. 
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus gave his royal fortune to re- 
lieve the poor of his empire. Peter the Great was Illus- 
trious for his pride of country, and laid the foundations 
of Russia's present greatness. Frederick of Prussia was 
a soldier prince, the most renowned of whom history has 
preserved a memorial. But this foremost American pos- 
sessed all these and other virtues in happy combination, 
not like single gems, brilliant by isolation, but like jewels 
In a crown of glory, united by the golden band of a com- 
pleter character. What humility amid such admiration ! 
what meekness amid such provocation ! what fidelity amid 
such temptations ! what contentment amid such adver- 
sity ! what sincerity amid such deception ! what " faith. 



36 TNTROD VCli ON B \ 

hope and chanty " amid such suffering ! Temperate 
without austerity, cautious without fear, brave without 
rashness, serious without melancholy, he was cheerful 
without frivolity. His constancy was not obstinacy ; his 
adaptation was not fickleness. His hopefulness was not 
Utopian. His love of justice was equaled only by his 
delicrht in compassion, and neither was sacrificed to the 
other. His self-advancement was subordinated to the 
public good. His integrity was never questioned ; his 
honesty was above suspicion ; his private life and public 
career were at once reputable to himself and honorable 
to his country. 

Are these plain, homely, solid virtues ? Yet they are 
the essential elements in public usefulness and perma- 
nent renown. Is it true thatmankind are attracted by shin- 
ing qualities and are led captive by brilliancy rather than 
by solidity ? Are the masses charmed by the tears of the 
Macedonian ; by the Roman crossing the Rubicon ; by the 
Frenchman dispersing the National Directory? But he was 
too great to bebrilliantasmen count brilliancy. The sword 
of Orion, the clustered glories of the Pleiades, the uplifted 
falchion of Perseus, are more attractive than the Polar 
Star ; but of all the stellar hosts, which is more important 
than that calm and steady planet to gladden the mariner 
on the trackless deep ? Dewdrops sparkle in the morn- 
inir sun, and the summer cloud emits its fructifyino- 
shower, and in turn is decked with the celestial bow ; but 
what are these compared with the wealth and highway of 
the ocean? In sheets of light and in bars of fire the 
liLditnine dazzles the eye and terrifies the mind of the 
beholder ; but what is the glow of the one or the sheen^ 
of the other to the daily sun spreading warmth and plenty 
and beauty over the habitations of man ? He was the sun 
of our plenty, the ocean of our wealth, and the Polar 



REV. J. p. NEWMAN. 37 

Star, shining calmly and steadily in the heavens of our 
Republic. 

Such a solid, sturdy character becomes our geography, 
our institutions and our destiny. Self-government calls 
upon the judgment to control the imagination ; to ambi- 
tion to submit to queenly modesty ; to adventure to bow 
to prudence ; to justice to hold in subjection political 
wrong ; to virtue to dominate every vice. It seems to be 
with us a national tradition that only men of solid virtues 
shall be raised to supreme positions in our Republic. 

Our greatest yet with least pretense, 
Great in council and great in war, 
Foremost captain of his time, 
Rich in saving common sense, 
And, as the greatest only are. 
In his simplicity sublime. 

As he was the typical American, so his was the typical 
American home. May we lift the curtain, and look upon 
the holy privacy of that once unbroken household? O! 
the mutual and reciprocal love of wedded life within those 
sacred precincts. Husband and wife the happy supple- 
ment of each other, their characters blending in sweetest 
harmony like the blended colors in the bow of promise. 
He, strength, dignity, and courage ; she, gentleness, 
grace and purity. He, the Doric column to sustain ; she, 
the Corinthian column to beautify. He, the oak to sup- 
port ; she, the ivy to entwine. In their life of deathless 
love, their happiness lay like an ocean of pearls and dia- 
monds in the embrace of the future. He, unhappy with- 
out her presence; she, desolate without his society. She, 
pure, high-minded, discriminating, arden^, loving, intelli- 
gent, he confided to her his innermost soul and blessed 
her with his best and unfailing love. She shared his 
trials and his triumphs ; his sorrows and his joys ; his 
toils and his rewards. How tender was that scene, in the 



38 INTR OD UCTION B Y 

early dawn of that April day, when all thought the long- 
expected end had come, when he gave her his watch and 
tenderly caressed her hand. It was all the great soldier 
had to give the wife of his youth. And the dying hero 
whispered : " I did not have you wait upon me, because 
I knew it would distress you ; but now the end draws 
nigh." And out from the "swellings of Jordan" he 
rushed back to the shore of life to write this tender mes- 
sage to his son : " Wherever I am buried, promise me 
that your mother shall be buried by my side." It is all a 
wife could ask ; it is all a husband could wish. 

" Lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death 
they shall not be divided." Side by side they shall sleep 
in the same tomb and she shall share with him whatever 
homage future ages shall pay at his national shrine. 

It was his love for her that lifted his intellect above the 
ceaseless tortures of a malignant disease and threw 
oblivion over the sense of excruciating pain, that he might 
write his personal memoirs, that she should not want 
when he was orone. 

And how tender was his care. He thought not of him- 
self, but of her. To his son he said : " I hope mother 
will bear up bravely." To quiet her anxiety he wrote : 
" Do as I do ; take it quietly. I give myself not the least 
concern. If I knew the end was to be to-morrow, I would 
try just as hard to get rest in the meantime." Would she 
keep holy vigils through the livelong night ? He wrote 
her : " Go to sleep and feel happy ; that is what I want 
to do, and am going to try for. I am happy when out of 
pain. Considt;^ how happy you ought to be. Good 
night!" 

Did she seek to divert his mind from his sufferings by 
recalling the victories of the past ? He replied: "This 
is the anniversary of the battle of Mcksburg — that is a 



REV. J. P. NEWMAN. 39 

fact. I had not thought of it before- It has been an 
important anniversary to us on two other occasions — one 
when our only daughter was born, and subsequent to 
Vicksburg, when we had a grandson born on that day." 

Was hers a laudable desire that the forthcoming me- 
moirs should be inscribed to her ? Yet she surrendered 
her claim to the magnanimity that inspired him to write: 
" It is a ereat deal better* that it should be dedicated as it 
is, I made what reputation I have as a soldier. The 
troops on both sides are yet living. As it is, the dedica- 
tion is to those we fousfht acjainst as well as to those we 
fought with. It may serve a purpose in restoring har- 
mony. If it does, it is of more importance than to gratify 
a little vanity. You will die ; it is hoped the book will 
live. After you and the soldiers who fought are all gone, 
the dedication will have more value than now." 

And such was the tenderness of his love and solicitude 
for her and hers, he surprised her by a letter found after 
his death. It came as a message to her from him after 
he had gone. When his spirit had returned to the God 
who gave it there was found secreted in his robe his last 
letter to her, enveloped, sealed, and addressed. He had 
written it betimes ; written it secretly, and carried the 
sacred missive day after day during fourteen days, know- 
ing that she would find it at last. In it he poured forth 
his soul in love for her and solicitude for their children : 

" Look after our dear children and direct them in the 
paths of rectitude. It would distress me far more to 
think that one of them could depart from an honorable, 
upright and virtuous life than it would to know that they 
were prostrated on a bed of sickness from which they 
were never to arise alive. They have never given us any 
cause for alarm on their account, and I earnestly pray 
they never will. With these few injunctions and the 



40 INTR OD UC TION B Y 

knowledge I have of your love and affection, and of the 
dutiful affection of all our children, I bid you a final fare- 
well, until we meet in another and I trust, a better world. 
You will find this on my person after my demise." 

And who should marvel that, in a home of such parent- 
age, that parental love and filial affection should reign 
supreme. " Honor thy father and thy mother," was in 
perpetual obedience there. O ! what reverence for that 
honored father by those devoted ions and that precious 
daughter. O ! what blissful love they manifested for that 
dear mother, to-day a widow. What pure delight in each 
other's company ; what mutual pride in each other's fu- 
ture welfare. And while all honor is due to each child 
of the departed for love, devotion and anxiety, and now 
for grief; yet the American people will never forget the 
sleepless nights, the ceaseless vigils by day, the profound 
deference, the tender caresses, the deathless love, of his 
first-born son, whose manly heart was crushed when his 
father died. Such a home is worthy to be called an 
American home. Give us such homes of purity, love, 
and joy, and our Republic shall live forever. 

If such was his character, such his life, such his home, 
what were the consolations which sustained him in sick- 
ness and cheered him in death ? Was life to him a 
" walking shadow " and death an endless dream ? Was 
his calmness in suffering born of stoical philosophy, or 
inspired by Christian fortitude ? Were his love and 
hope limited by time, or destined to live forever ? Reared 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and baptized in his 
last illness by one of her ministers, his religious nature 
was sincere, calm, and steadfast. The principles of 
Christianity were deeply engrafted upon his spirit. Firm 
but never demonstrative, he was not a man of religious 
pretense. His life was his profession. He knew that 



REV. /. P. NEWMAN. 41 

Christianity had nothing to gain from him beyond the 
influence of a "well-ordered Hfe and a godly conversa- 
tion," but that he had everything to gain from the power 
and promises of our Lord. More than all things else, he 
was taciturn touching his religious faith and experience 
— not, however, from doubt and fear, but from mental 
characteristics. The keenest, closest, broadest of all 
observers, he was the most silent of men. He lived 
within himself. His thought-life was most intense ; his 
memory and imagination were picture- galleries of the 
world and libraries of treasured thought. He was a 
world to himself. His most intimate friends knew him 
only in part ; he was fully and best known to the wife of 
his bosom and the children of his loins. To them the 
man of iron will and nerve of steel was gentle, tender 
and confiding, and to them he unfolded his beautiful 
religious life. 

On the i8th of April he said to me : "I believe In the 
Holy Scriptures ; whoso lives by them will be benefited 
thereby; men may differ as to the interpretation, which 
is human ; but the Scriptures are man's best guide." 
He revered their source, recognized their influence, 
responded to their requisitions, trusted in their promises, 
and found consolation in their hopes. His faith in God 
as the Sovereign Ruler and Father Almighty was simple 
as a child s and mighty as a prophet's. There is an 
eloquence of pathos in the opening sentence of the pre- 
face to his Memoirs. He had proposed for himself other 
plans of usefulness to occupy his declining years. He 
would have mingled in the busy scenes of life in places 
where men " most do congregate." He would have been 
identified with the great enterprises of his day, to increase 
a nation's wealth and power, and the glory of that city 
in whose enchanting park he shall repose beneath the 



42 INTR on UCTION B V 

noblest monument. He would have enjoyed in domestic 
and social life wealth and well-earned renown. But 
Heaven decreed otherwise. " Man proposes and God 
disposes." There are but few important events in the 
affairs of men brought about by men of their own choice. 
Such was his faith in Providence, which imparted to him 
absolute power in his great mission ; and when burdened 
with the gravest responsibilities, when conscious that a 
nation's life had been confided to his care, when the 
darkness of adversity overshadowed him, he trusted in 
the Lord who is mightier than the mighty. 

Doing nothing for show, yet he made public recog- 
nition of God by his faithful and conscientious attendance 
upon Divine worship. No public man heard more ser- 
mons than he, and he was the best of hearers. Whether 
in the obscurity of Galena, or in the conspicuousness 
of Washington, or in the private walks of life in New 
York, he was in his pew on the Lord's Day. And his 
pastor was always sure of his presence on a stormy Sab- 
bath. His faithful attendance at church was largely 
inspired by his respect for the Sabbath day. On Mon- 
day, April 20, he said to me : " I did not go riding yes- 
terday, although invited and permitted by my physicians, 
because it was the Lord's Day, and because I felt that if 
a relapse should set in the people who are prajing 
for me would feel that I was not helping their faith by 
riding out on Sunday." And on a Saturday night, to 
divert his attention from pain and uneasiness, his eldest 
son suggested some innocent diversion, but when 
informed that it was near midnight, the honored father 
replied : " It is too near the Sabbath to begin any diver- 
sion." 

He was a man of prayer. It was on Sabbath evening, 
March 22, when alone with Mrs. Grant, that his pastor 



REV. /. F. NEWMAN. 43 

entered, and die General, with tenderest appreciation and 
gratitude, referred to the many prayers offered for him, 
and mentioned societies and Httle children who had prom- 
ised to pray for him daily ; and then, in answer to his 
minister's suggestion, that we should join that universal 
prayer, he replied with emphasis, " Yes ; " and at the con- 
clusion of our supplication the illustrious invalid re- 
sponded, "Amen ! " That Amen, by that silent man, was 
more significant than volumes by others. But it was his 
custom and habit to call to prayers. On March 27, late 
in the evening, he requested all to enter his room for 
devotions, and made a special request for the presence 
of his " beloved physician," and his friend Romero. And 
he said, to an honored priest of another Church : " I know 
and feel very grateful to the Christian people of the land 
for their prayers on my behalf. There is no sect or relig- 
ion as shown in the Old or New Testaments to which 
this does not apply. Catholics, Protestants and Jews, and 
all the good people of all nations, of all politics as well 
as religions, and all nationalities, seemed to have united 
in wishing or praying for my improvement. I am a great 
sufferer all the time, but the facts you have related are 
compensation for much of it. All that I can do is to pray 
that the prayers of all these good people may be an- 
swered so far as to have us meet in another and a better 
world." 

He was not a bigot. Bigotry was no part of his noble 
and eenerous nature. While he demanded relifjion as 
the safeguard of a free people, he accorded to all the 
largest freedom of faith and worship. He was without 
prejudice ; he claimed that public education should be 
non-sectarian, but not non-religious. His Des Moines 
speech on education was not against the Roman Catholic 
Church, but against ignorance and superstition. The 



44 INTRODUCTION BY 

order issued during the war, excluding certain Jewish 
traders from a given miHtary district, did not originate 
with him, but came from higher authority, and was not 
against the rehgion of the Jews. 

His was the beatitude : " Blessed is he that considereth 
the poor." Strangers might regard him indifferent to 
the needy, yet the poor will rise up and call him blessed. 
Many were the pensioners of his kindly bounty. He 
gave "his goods to feed the poor." While President he 
heard his pastor on '* Active Christianity," and in the 
sermon mention was made of a soldier's widow sick 
and poor, and of a blind man in pressing want. He 
had just reached the White House, when he sent me back 
this card with the money: " Please give ^lo to the blind 
man p.nd $io to the soldier's widow." On a Christmas 
Eve he wrote me thus : 

" Executive Mansion, Dec 24, 1869. 

" Dear Doctor : Please find enclosed my check for $100, for distri- 
bution among the poor, and don't forget ' The Ragged Schools' on 
the Island. Yours truly, " U. S. Grant." 

In his private, unseen life, he bore many of the fruits 
of the Spirit. He loved his enemies, not as he loved his 
friends, but he loved them as enemies by doing them 
good as he had opportunity. He caught the spirit of the 
Saviour's prayer: " Father forgive them ; they know not 
what they do." There is one high in official position in 
our Nation who had traduced him at the point of honor 
whereat a great soldier is most sensitive, and the wrong 
done was made public to the mortification of all. Grieved 
at what he had done, and confined to his sick room, he 
who had offended was nigh unto death. But, himself a 
man of proud and sensitive spirit, he sighed for recon- 
ciliation. "Would the President forgive the offense and 
call on the sick ? " anxiously asked interested friends, 



J^EV. J. P. NEWMAN. 45 

A suoforestion from me that it would be a Christian act to 
call was sufficient. The call was made; the sick man 
revived ; and old friendship was restored. And, rising to 
a magnanimity worthy a saint, he would not withhold an 
honor due, even from those who had done him a wrong. 
Who does not regret the death of such a man ? Heaven 
may be richer, but earth is poorer. On one of those 
delusive April days, when hope revived in all our hearts, 
I said to him : " You are a man of Providence. God 
made you the instrument to save our nation, and he may 
have a great spiritual mission to accomplish by you, and 
may raise you up." In the most solemn and impressive 
manner, with a mind clear and a voice distinct, he replied: 
"I do not wish to proclaim it; but should He spare my 
life it is my intention and resolve to throw all my 
influence by example in that direction." 

He is gone, but shall death defeat a purpose so bene- 
ficent ? Is he not mightier in his death than in his life ? 
What home has not felt the sympathetic chord touched 
by the invisible hand of his terrible but patient suffering ? 
How the embers of sectional strife have died out on 
the hearthstone of the nation ! How political animosities 
have skulked away in shame from the peaceful spirit of 
his last moments ! How sectarian prejudice shrank into 
oblivion when around his couch all bowed in prayer be- 
fore a universal Saviour! How the young men of the 
Republic realized that life is worth living when they 
felt the touch of his great soul ! How the little children 
of the nation united his name with that of father and 
mother in their purer prayers, and opened the tablets 
of their young memories to receive the image of his 
life and character ! And wherever he had touched the 
circuit of the earth, there came from Japan, China and 
India, from the temples of Jerusalem and the Pyramids 



46 INTR OD UCTION B Y 

of Eg^'pt, from Attic Plains and ancient Troy, from the 
Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, from the Danube and 
Rhine, from the Seine and the Thames, and from out the 
venerable walls of Westminster Abbey, the voice of 
lamenting love. 

When near his end he sought to cheer that precious 
woman who loved him as her life : " You ouo-ht to feel 
happy under any circumstances. My expected death 
called forth expressions of sincerest kindness from all 
people of all sections of the country. The Confederate 
soldier vied with the Union soldier in sounding my praise. 
The Protestant, the Catholic, and the Jewappomted days 
for universal prayer in my behalf All societies passed 
resolutions of sympathy for me and petitions that I might 
recover. It looked as if my sickness had had something 
to do to bring about harmony between the sections. The 
attention of the public has been called to your children, 
and they have been found to pass muster. Apparently 
I have accomplished more while apparendy dying than it 
falls to the lot of most men to be able to do ! " O, " let 
me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be 
like his ! " 

And where in all tlie annals of the Church shall we 
find a dying hour so full of divine repose? His calm 
faith in a future state was undisturbed by anxious doubt. 
His suffering and wasted body was but the casket for the 
resplendent jewel of his soul, and when death ruthlessly 
broke that precious casket an angel carried the jewel to 
the skies to lay it at the Saviour's feet. In the early 
light of April 1st, when all thought the end was come, the 
sufferer said to me : " Doctor, I am going." 

"I hope the prospect of the future is clear and bright" 
was my response ; and the answer came : " Yes, O, yes ! " 
Then followed a scene of infinite tenderness. The honored 



REV. J. p. NFAVMAN. 47 

wife, the precious daughter, the devoted sons and their 
wives, each in turn approached and he tenderly kissed 
them. " Do yOu know me, darhng ? " was the loving 
wife's inquiry, and he whispered back: " Certainly I do, 
and bless you all in my heart." Such love melted the 
marble heart of death, and the " King of Terrors " fled 
affrighted. The sufferer revived. Heaven added months 
to a life so dear to us all. When he had recovered suf- 
ficiently, I asked him : " What was the supreme thought 
on your mind when eternity seemed so near?" 

" The comfort of the consciousness that I had tried to 
live a good and honorable life," was the response which 
revealed the hidden life of his soul. Aofain the ancrel of 
death cast his shadow over the one a nation loved. 
Amid the gathering gloom I said : " You have many 
awaiting you on the other side." 

" I wish they would come, and not linger long," was 
the answer of his Christian faith and hope. They came 
at last. They came to greet him with the kiss of immor- 
tality. They came to escort the conqueror over the 
" last enemy " to a coronation never seen on thrones of 
earthly power and glory. Who came? His martyred 
friend, Lincoln ? His companion in arms, McPherson ? 
His faithful Chief of Staff, Rawlins ? His great prede- 
cessor m camp and Cabinet, Washington ? And did not 
all who had died for Liberty come ? O ! calm, brave, 
heroic soul, sing thou the song of Christian triumph : 
" O, death, where is thy sting, O, grave, where is thy vic- 
tory ? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, 
through Jesus Christ, our Lord." 



THE 

LIFE AND DEEDS 



OF 



GEN'L U. S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER I. 

IN SUPREME COMMAND. 

Grant in command of all the armies— Crossing the Rapidan— The wrestle in the 
Wilderness— Description of that wild and rugged region — Hancock on Hooker's 
old battle-field — Warren's assault — Grant's famous ride to the front — An old 
officer's tribute. 

" If any opportunity presents itself for pitching into 
a part of Lee's army, do so without giving time for 
dispositions." This order to General George G. ?^Ieade 
was one of the first commands issued in a military 
movement of vital moment to the nation. It was 
penned one May morning in 1S64, at half past eight 
o'clock, just as the Army of the Potomac was cross- 
ing the Rapidan river to begin a spring campaign, 
with one man in command of all the armies of the 
Union. New plans had been made and fresh forces 
were taking the first step toward their execution. The 
fate of the nation hung upon their success. 

Thrice before, under as many different commanders, 
had this same army pushed across this same stream 
during the three years just past, only to return dis- 
appointed with defeat or retreat. History does not 
furnish brighter examples of heroism than it had dis- 
played upon many occasions ; yet, from one cause 
or another, its work had not brought decisive results. 



50 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



At the moment when this message was sent to Meade 
it was entering- upon a new experience, under the con- 
trol of a mind and will noted for its unyielding- quality. 
The man whose orders it was now to obey had been 
promoted to the highest rank known to the law. Before 
he wrote the above order to Meade he had by wire 
moved the army of Butler from Fort Fisher toward 
Richmond, Sherman southward toward Georgia, and 
Crook to the valley of Virginia. Thus, four strong 
armies, numbering more than a quarter of a million 




GRANT WRITING DESPATCH BEFORE CROSSING THE RAl'lDAN. 

of efficient troops, were at this moment marching from 
■widely distant points toward a common centre in a new 
scheme of co-operation and support that promised great 
things to a nation impatient for a victory. 

Never before in the history of war had one man 
directed warlike operations over a broader expanse ot 
territory or held a more exalted military command. But 
this one had earned the right to this unlimited power 
in the fierce furnace of fii'ht. 



/vV SUPREME COMMAND. 51 

From Belmont, all the way southward to Chattanooga^ 
U. S. Grant had fought great batdes and won important 
victories. While doing these things, he also fashioned 
from new levies an army of matchless soldiers. They 
came, officers as well as men, from the industrious citizens 
of the West, raw volunteers, who, at the first call, shoul- 
dered muskets they knew not how to use. These troops, 
in learning the cruel lessons of the sword, had followed 
him from Cairo to Missionary Ridge, and well understood 
his relentless methods of war. The fact had also forced 
itself upon the country that he did not split hairs over 
questions of military etiquette or waste time in defining 
the intricate theories of an armed conflict in the place 
of producing evidences of his presence near the foe. 
His work had furnished the testimony that when his 
soldiers met the enemy the business on hand was a 
fight. To reach the best of it by the easiest and most 
direct means had always been his aim, and he had given 
the nation results instead of excuses. This fact had 
attracted the attention and purchased for him the 
acclaim of the whole country. It had also bred the 
belief that tenacity was his chief talent. His record 
does not prove it. The campaign which began at the 
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and ended 
in the fall of Vicksburg, especially the later features of 
it, were certainly strategic and bold enough to please the 
most critical military scientist. Yet it is by no means the 
only example of General Grant's skill in the conception 
of great military movements as well as in the stroke of 
the conflict ; but it is enough to prove his high quality 
as a warrior. His pathway up to a full acknowledgment 
of his abilities had been full of stones. Acrainst bio^ 
odds General Grant had practically hammered himself 
into the hazards of supreme command at the moment 



52 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



ihe reader is asked to begin the story of a life as full of 
interest as it is of useful teachings. 

The Army of the Potomac was unused to his aggres- 
sive and stubborn ideas of armed strife. Whether from 
political complications surrounding the situation near 
Washington, or some other cause, its battles had been 
a test of the courage of the troops, but never of the 
enduring quality of man. 




VIEW UN THE KAPIDAN KIVKR. 

A great general oiice said, "The hope and courage ot 
assailants are al\va\s greater than that of the assailed." 
Grant, scemini^lv impressed with this idea, always sought 
to attack rather than be attacked. When possible, the 
dawn of the morninof was the sional for a forward move- 
ment. In other words, he was able to, and did, test to the 
fullest the endurance as well as the courage of his 
troops. The order to Meade started the splendid 



nv SUPREME COMMAND. o3 

soldiers of the Army of the Potomac to their first lesson 
in General Grant's resolute ways of conducting a cam- 
paign. 

The new commander had just been informed that 
Warren with the Fifth Corps had struck a part of Lee's 
army. Naturally, this was notice to him that the Con- 
federate chieftain was prepared for his forward move- 
ment. Lee had pushed his forces out of the half-circle 
in which they lay near the south bank of tlie Rapidan, 
from Locust Grove, above Orange Court-House, to the 
'mouth of Mountain Run, near Ely's Ford. He intended 
to whip the advancing army before it could be united 
and put into position. 

General Meade was with tlie leading column, while 
Grant was still near the banks of the Rapidan river, 
waiting for Burnside. His interest about the situa- 
tion in front pressed upon him, and, leaving word for 
Burnside to hurry up, he rode forward to join Meade 
at his head-quarters at the old tavern just behind where 
Warren was making his dispositions. It was an hour 
after he reached there before two divisions of the Fifth 
Corps were ready to make the attack which Meade had 
ordered as soon as he received Grant's notice to beein 
the battle. His forces were yet scattered, and reports 
from the enemy were meagre and unsatisfactory. Litde 
more was known of their movements than that they had 
been discovered in front in strong force. 

The lay of the land where the Lieutenant-General was 
to fight his first battle with strange troops, commanded 
by officers almost unknown to him, fastened upon the 
leader a perplexing responsibility and a new danger. 
The Confederates were operating in a region with which 
they were more or less familiar, while the Union forces 
were entire strangers to its intricacies, and must hunt 



54 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the enemy where cavalry and artiller}' were useless and 
reliance could be had on the musket only. The country, 
for miles about, was wild and forbiddino-. The ground 
was rugg-ed and uneven. The slopes were covered with 
a thick growth of scrub oaks and other varieties of 
stunted trees. Hazel and other small underbrush were 
woven into a bewildering network by creeping vines 
and evergreens. This extensive reach of singular forest 
-.- -4' -tt-,^ was penetra- 

ted by only two 
wagon roads,' 
and there was 
hardly a bri- 
dle-path in the 
whole region. 
Only now and 
then did a 
brook or a ra- 
vine break 
through the 
tangled under- 
growth and 
part the shad- 
ows of the 
forest enough 
to let the sun- 

GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. licrht in. 

The movement of troops in this almost impenetrable 
thicket was very difficult. Alignments could not be 
preserved, and it was next to impossible to maintain 
the formations. Fighting in this closely-twisted fastness 
had to be man to man, and most of the time against an 
unseen enemy. Each soldier must be guided by his 
natural sagacity, for the officers were powerless so far 




IN SUPREME COMMAND. 55 

as systematic direction was concerned. The region was 
well named " The Wilderness," and the desperate fight 
which began there on the 5th of May and lasted for two 
days may well be called a grapple in the brush or a 
scramble in the undergrowth. 

To keep a footing upon the important roads in this 
wild region was of vital importance. Lee intended to 
crowd Grant down the river before Hancock could 
come up from the old Chancellorsville field, where 
he had camped the night before. This purpose, on the 
part of his antagonist, compelled Grant to force the 
issue here. To meet the requirements of the situation, 
Warren, as soon as possible, sent Griffin's and Wads- 
worth's divisions with such energy against the enemy, 
that Ewell, who was before him, was driven from the 
field in utter confusion. But the nature of the ground 
was such that supports failed to come up, and the foe, 
renewing the attack in the afternoon, pushed Warren 
back before nightfall to the position from which he made 
the attack of the mornino-. Warren's assault had been 
brilliantly and resolutely made, and, but for the remarka- 
ble character of the field, would have been so successful 
that the subsequent battles of that campaign would have 
been fought upon a different line. 

The news of the day's disaster fell upon Grant's ear 
without in the least disturbing his equanimity. That 
supreme confidence in final success that had always 
characterized the Lieu tenant-General was not shaken 
in this crisis, and he set about preparing for another 
assault, with as much composure as though the most 
ordinary work of life was being directed by him. The 
day's disaster told him that Lee's whole force was now 
before him. Sedgwick was still behind. Hancock had 
not yet come from Todd's Tavern, where he had been 



56 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

halted, so that he could go to the support of Getty on 
the Brock road or be marched to Warren's assistance, 
as the exigencies of the battle might require. 

Warren in person reported to General Grant the final 
result of the day's fight and the general situation on the 
line of battle. He simply asked a few questions, and 
then ordered his horse, impelled by the gravit)- of tlie 
situation to go to the front and make his own obser- 
vations. By way of preparation, he arose and buckled 
on a sword, which was notice to all who knew the habits 
of the man that he regarded this as a moment of supreme 
importance and one of unusual dignity. Rarely, since 
he had been a general officer, had he worn side-arms, 
and their presence upon this occasion was regarded as 
an unerrino- indication of the character of his thoughts. 
The act by him was more significant than words from 
most men. The sword was the mute messenger of his 
power and determined purpose. 

It took but a moment to prepare for the ride, when 
Grant and Warren gave rein to their horses and passed 
out to decide what should be done in this emergency. 
Only a rough country road led out to Warren's posi- 
tion, and along it the two generals travelled while the 
daylight was waning. The troops were scattered at 
hap-hazard through the woods, ard, although the rude 
works of the two forces, thrown up ^t odd times during 
the fight, were very near to each other, they were not 
visible to the contending men, and about all the new 
commander could do in the way of taking observations 
was to make himself familiar with the unfortunate lay of 
the land and the necessity of holding Warren's position. 

Bent upon this, he returned to head-quarters to give 
directions for Burnside to hurry up from the river and 
Hancock to make all possible speed to the support of 



IN SUPREME COMMAND. 57 

Getty's division, which held the key to all the by-ways in 
that wooded region. Getty had been instructed to main- 
tain his position against all odds, and to do so he was 
finally obliged to move out and make a fight while 
Hancock was hurrying to his relief. But the Second 
Corps arrived late in the afternoon, just in the nick of 
time to support Getty in his assault on Hill. 

While all these movements were going on, vexatious 
delays were embarrassing the leader whose fate, as well 
as that of his army, hung in such delicate balances that 
a hair might have turned the scale for or against him. Yet 
perfect confidence in the final triumph of his plans did 
not desert him, and now, after all these years, he says: 
"While those were serious hours. I never once lost 
faith in the troops or had a doubt of final success." 
But who will measure the peril of the situation while 
Grant waited for a message from the front that day. 
It was late in the afternoon of the 5th of May before 
that incessant, awful roar of musketry came with a 
sullen voice to his ear, which told that a fierce batde 
was on. It is unnecessary here to follow the incidents 
of that terrific wrestle in the Wilderness. It began on 
the 5th and ended on the 7th of May, but the first 
thirty-six hours of fight traced in blood a never-dying 
tribute to the valor of the American volunteer. Those 
who wore the blue were as if blindfolded with brush 
during all the conflict. Those who wore the gray, with 
advantages of ground and informadon, proved them- 
selves foes of the first quality. The story of their clinch 
and struggle in the thicket can never be pictured with 
words. Most of it was hidden from the eye of any one 
except individual antagonists. They simply fought until 
both were worn out or dead, and when the shattered 
battalions of the Army of the Potomac were drawn out 



58 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of the woods to renew the battle at Spottsylvania the 
first step toward ultimate triumph had been taken. To 
be sure. Grant's first engagement below the Rapidan 
was without decisive results. Yet the batde of the 
Wilderness was an important victory. He had sounded 
Lee's position and out-generalled him in the preliminary 
manoeuvres of a great campaign. He had established 
himself firmly on the south side of the river, which 
was a substantial reward for his first movement. The 
army which had given him such brilliant evidences of its 
fighting capacity had been in the habit of retreating after 
a sinele eneaeement. One of the old officers of the 
Sixth Corps, twenty years later, tells this s>\.ory of the 
value of the Wilderness to the troops and the impres- 
sion Grant made upon them. 

"We were thrown across the Rapidan again in the 
spring of 1864, and scarcely had our column straight- 
ened out in the road to Richmond, when Lee attacked. 
We had to face to the right and meet him in the dense 
thickets known as the ' Wilderness.' The fighting was 
desperate and deadly. There was no great advantage 
for either army until Lee got on our right fiank and 
rear. 

" This attack was made on the Sixth Corps late in 
the afternoon of the 6th, and for a time there was great 
confusion, and stubborn fighting. Sedgwick 'changed 
front ' in the face of the most determined assaults. The 
old General was as cool and gave his orders as quietly 
and clearly as if he had been sitting in his tent. 
The movement was successfully accomplished, yet 
every man of us knew that we had been cut oH 
from the base of supplies at Brandy Station and ex- 
pected nothing but that, in the early morning we would 
be fighting only for a chance to fall back aj^ain beyond 



IN SUPREME COMMAND. 59 

the Rapldan. We had f^ot used to it and would have 
retreated with no more tlian the usual feehng of regret. 
It was then, in the gathering darkness, that I saw General 
Grant, wholly undisturbed by the seeming failure of his 
plans, and giving his orders without appearance of 
annoyance. I set him down right there as a great 
General. But, when about midnight orders came and 
we moved to the left, in the direction of Richmond, 
there was a scene. It flashed upon us, like lightning, 
that there was to be no more 'falling back,' and the 
troops broke into the wildest enthusiasm. I had been 
through it all, from McClellan to Meade, and the feeling 
of the army that night when they found there was to be 
no more retreating, found relief in such cheers as I had 
never listened to." 

This veteran officer thus describes the victory. It 
came in the confidence Grant gave his soldiers and in 
the faith they gave him. 

Touchinof thus the needle of the indicator which 
points to the high degree of this great warrior's power, 
just as it is within one notch of the top, it is well to stop 
and look at the elements of mind and character that have 
combined to make him a great Captain and an illustrious 
citizen. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE GRANT FAMILY. 

Grant's ancestn' — He comes of fighting stock — Tracing his family back 800 years-- 
They are from the sturdy yoemanry of Scotland — Matthew Grant's arrival in this 
country — Early settlement in New England — Noah Grant the great-grandfather 
and Noah Grant the grandfather — His life in Pennsylvania — Birth and early life 
of Jesse Grant — His marriage to Hannah Simpson — Characteristics of his parents. 

Few men are fitted for the highest duties of command. 
From out of the crucible of fight only one officer, 
from among the many, comes who possesses the force- 
ful attributes necessary to the successful conduct of 
war. Perfect self-poise, self-reliance and power of 
decision, where human life is at stake, are rare yet 
indispensable qualides in a commander. There are 
many men grand in the assault who are lost in the plan 
of a campaign, or beaten by dallying with their judg- 
ment. 

There is a vast deal of difference between a great 
soldier and a great commander. Several Generals on 
the Union side were doubdess General Grant's supe- 
riors in what may be termed "the learning of war;" 
but in the vital resources that were always proof 
against defeat or demoralization, Grant was the chosen 
chief among them all. It was his tireless energy, 
tenacity, entire willingness to accept grave responsi- 
bilities, and a sublime faith in his ability to win even 
aeainst adverse chances, that made him the leader of 
great leaders. He inherited these strong qualities from 
a long line of not aristocratic but substantial and useful 
ancestry, whose mottoes were, " Steadfast," " Wise and 
(«o) 



THE GRANT FAMILY. Gl 

Harmless." His own character, too, as read by his a.cts 
and what he has said, is a curious commingHng of ten- 
derness and firmness. 

For eight hundred years there has been no war, either 
in our own or the mother country, in which General 
Grant's ancestors have not borne a creditable part. 
Playfair's "Bridsh Antiquity" says that originally the 
Grants were Normans, and came into Scodand with 
William the Conqueror as early as 1016. In the early 
days of the Scotch monarchy they were rich and pow^er- 
ful, and Gregory Grant was a Sheriff of Inverness as 
early as the 13th century. It is singular how the stolid 
quality of the good law officer has been handed down 
from generation to generation, to find its sternest and 
yet kindest representadve in the hero of x'\ppomattox. 

The same authority as above quoted states that at 
Halidoun Hill, in 1333, John Grant commanded the 
right wing of the Scottish army. There is also a monu- 
ment in Hampshire, England, to Lieutenant-General 
Francis Grant, who was buried in 1781. It bears the 
crest of a burning mount with the motto, "Steadfast," 
the word selected by his ancestors, many hundred years 
before, to depict the character of the Grants. " Crests 
of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland," by Fair- 
bairn, contains twenty-one different crests of the clan 
Grant. One of them represents a burning hill with 
four peaks, each surmounted by a flame, with the motto, 
"Stand Sure, Stand Fast, Craig Ellachie." Another 
Grant had as a crest an oak sproudng, the sun shining 
and the motto, "Wise and Harmless." 

A regiment of Highlanders in the Sepoy rebellion in 
India w^as composed almost entirely of Grants, and their 
colors bore the motto, " Stand Fast, Craig Ellachie." 
The original home of these strong people lies in the 



62 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

northeast of Scotland, on the beautiful and picturesque 
land that follows the course of the river Spey. The 
Shires of Inverness, Moray and Banff were theirs ; a 
country noted for the beauty of its scenery and its mag- 
nificent forests of fir-trees. It is recorded that about 
the 14th century the clan became divided, and that is 
doubdess the reason why to-day there are two clans in 
Scodand who claim ancestry with our great Captain. 

The Duffs, Gordons and Stewart-Murrays, highland- 
ers, assert that he is their kinsman with as much 
earnestness as the more aristocratic of the clan Grant 
with Lord Seafield as their chief. Each drinks his health 
upon festal occasions and both do him honor with proud 
respect for the manner in which he has preserved to this 
generadon the quality of steadfastness with which his 
ancestors and theirs made the name famous in the days 
when they lighted their beacon fires upon the hill-tops to 
rouse the Grants for war, pressing them by this sign 
that in the conflict they were to be as immovable as 
the rock. There is no doubt that the remarkable 
energy, the determined resolution, the perfect self- 
confidence and the solid good sense of Grant came 
with his Caledonian descent, all the traits of his solid an- 
cestry uniting in him to produce a great commander 
of men. There are authorities which deny this line- 
age, and insist that he is of English Puritan origin. 
But General Grant's peculiar characteristics of mind 
and body seem to emphaUcally deny any such assump- 
tion. 

His kinsfolk in the Highlands of Scodand were not 
more steadfast in war and peace than those who came 
to this country and planted the seed of the family in this 
new land. Among the earlier setders who found their 
way from the old world to the new, ten years after the 



THE GRANT FAMILY. 63 

landing- of the Pilgrims, were Matthew Grant and his 
wife. As early as 1630 this sprig from the ancient 
family was planted in what are now the suburbs of 
Boston. The loss of his wife and the hankering after 
new lands, five years afterwards, took Matthew Grant 
into what was then the wilderness of the beautiful Con- 
necticut valley. His settlement was made at Windsor, 
between Springfield and Hartford, and the records of 
the old town attest the fact that he was a leader in the 
little community. He was surveyor, town clerk and a 
sort of arbitrator to settle the disputes among his towns- 
men. 

Noah and Solomon Grant, two of his sturdy descend- 
ants, the first a captain and the second a lieutenant, were 
killed near Oswego, N. Y., in 1756, in the French and 
Indian war. From the loins of this Captain Grant 
sprang another Noah Grant, the grandfather of U. S. 
Grant. He fought gallantly in the Revolutionary war 
as lieutenant at the battle of Lexington, and afterwards 
as a captain of the line. 

When the conflict ended that insured our independ- 
ence, the Connecticut valley had become quite a settle- 
ment, and Noah, restless under the gentle yoke of 
peace, took the Western fever and removed to West- 
moreland county. Pa. On the banks of the Monon- 
gahela, not far from Greensburg, he began anew, at a 
time when the mineral wealth that has since made 
the region famous was unknown and the business of 
that now magnificent section was conducted without 
money by swapping the commodities of life. Here he 
married Rachael Kelly, who bore him Jesse Root Grant, 
father of the subject of this memoir, and six other 
children. The name of Jesse Root was given to his 
favorite child bv Noah Grant, in honor of one of the 



64 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

earlier justices of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, 
whom he had known in his New England home. 

Army life and the habits of the pioneer had made 
Noah Grant restless, and, after living nine years in the 
Pennsylvania wilderness, he embarked with his small 
holdings of household goods, his wife and family, 
and floated in a flat boat down the Mononeahela into 
the Ohio river, and landed about forty miles below 
Pittsburg, at Liverpool, Ohio, where he raised his 
cabin and started again. The opening of the Western 
reserve for settlement, and the New England emigra- 
tion that poured in, beckoned General Grant's grand- 
father thither, and he took up his home at Deerfield, 
in Portage county, when Jesse Grant was ten )ears 
old. Noah Grant is described as a brilliant talker, a 
clear-headed, well-educated citizen, who was more inter- 
esting than provident, and fonder of the sports of the 
field than the drudgery of the plow. His wife died, a 
year after he had reached the reserve, and his home 
was broken up, when his son Jesse was eleven years 
of age. He was then thrown upon his own resources, 
while the father aided his younger children by shoe- 
making, and finally died at IMaysville, Ky., with his 
youngest son. 

After drifting about for a time, Jesse found a place 
with George Todd, of Youngstown, and by him was 
given a comfortable home and a fair English education 
for those early days. David Todd, who was Governor 
of Ohio while General Grant was fighting some of his 
severest battles, was his father's playmate as early as 
1808. At sixteen Jesse went back to Deerfield and 
began learning to be a tanner, a trade which he finished 
at Maysville, Ky., during the war of 181 2. 

When Jesse Grant was twenty-one years of age, he 



THE GRANT FAMILY. 65 

returned to Deerfield and went into the tanning- business 
for himself, and two years later moved his business to 
Ravenna, where, when he was twenty-five, he was pos- 
sessed of two thousand dollars and was the wealthiest 
citizen of that town. He then went in search of a help 
mate, and found her in the person of Hannah Simpson, 
a Pennsylvania girl of good Scotch ancestry, whose 
father had moved to Ohio two years before. They 
were married, and General Grant was the fruit of this 
union. His father and mother were noted for their 
g-ood practical sense and their devotion to their family. 
The father was regarded as a strong, upright man, with 
an excellent capacity for business, and the mother as a 
kind, generous, warm-hearted woman, possessing good 
health and a large stock of common sense. 

Thus the line of American ancestry is completed by 
eight generations of sterling people, reaching from the 
Puritans of New England to the famous Scotch-Irish 
blood of Pennsylvania. All of it American, and all 
good stock from which to expect powerful men, not 
only in physique, but in mind and character. 

Although strong men and women do not always 
hand to their offspring their own quality, yet it would 
have been strange indeed, if the plain, solid Grants, who 
began so early to help make the history of this country, 
had not produced a man truthful, courageous and well 
equipped with the gifts of mind and body that would de- 
velop into something great under the pressure of a crisis. 

Jesse Grant and his wife were people well equipped 
with the effectual forces of life. They were frugal, 
industrious, well-balanced citizens. They accumulated 
and saved. They raised their children well, and did not 
neglect in the money-making quality a good education. 
In other words, they preserved in their own proper 




(66) 



THE GRAN7' FAMILY. 67 

persons the sterling elements of their Scotch-American 
lineage, and handed it to their children. Such offspring 
is seldom brilliant, in the sense in which that word is 
used, but generally useful and reliable men and women. 
It was the boast of the earliest Grants that they were 
" steadfast," and they set up their monuments for those 
that were to come after them, keeping steadily to the 
fore the burning injunction that a Grant should be 
"steadfast, wise and harmless." People studying the 
history of the man who sprang from such an ancestry, 
and who has made the name more illustrious than any 
other of the long line, will observe how all these quali- 
des have united in his composition. He seems not only 
to have caught the best in the parents, but to have 
revived most of the striking and forceful characteristics 
of his early ancestors. But ancestry and the parent- 
age of famous men are not of so much importance. 
Most of them feel like being judged by their own acts, 
and to have their history begin under the shadow of 
grave responsibilities. Napoleon said : " My patent of 
nobility dates from the battle of Montenotte." General 
Grant may also say that his tide to the highest com- 
mendation of his countrymen began with his success in 
war. From this pinnacle he will be viewed not only by 
this but by all succeeding generations. 



CHAPTER III. 

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD DAYS. 

Grant's birthplace in Ohio — His early life anu e'lucation — A plain, unassuming boj-— 
Not much of a student and less of a soldier vhen a lad — A manly, courageous, 
industrious boy, fond of horses- -School days — His appointment to West Point — 
Difference between Grant and other great commanders. 

Just beyond one of the sloping bends of the Ohio 
the Htde town of Point Pleasant straggles along the 
river bank. Like most villages along the Western 
streams, it is not a very inviting place. Cincinnati is 
twenty-five miles away, and the surrounding country is 
fairly pleasant and fertile. Sixty-three years ago all this 
region was litde more than a wilderness. Ohio was 
just being settled by Eastern people, and the primitive 
conditions of that time made life in the woods any- 
thing but easy. On April 27th, 1S22, amidst these rude 
surroundings, Hannah Simpson Grant gave birth to a 
boy child, whose name and fame was destined to fill the 
world. Neither then, nor as the boy grew up, did this 
good woman and faithful and devoted mother have any 
thought of what was in store for the boy baby of that 
April morning, and it was a rich inheritance for both her 
and the father to live to see and enjoy the pleasures and 
honors of their son's greatness. 

The^re was trouble in the Grant family over namii^g 
this son. The mother, true to her Pennsylvania birth, 
was anxious that he should be named after .\!bi rt Gal- 
latin, who was the foremost man of his time and lived 
up in that wild section of the country where Jesse Root 
Grant was born. Theodore was also proposed, as was 

((•.8) 



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(69) 



70 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Hiram, while the grandmother, who was a thoughtful 
student of history, insisted on Ulysses. So, after a great 
deal of discussion and deliberation, this boy was bap- 
tized Hiram Ulysses Grant. Contrary to the usual 
custom in the country, he was rarely ever called Hiram 
or Hi Grant, as might have been expected, but was 
commonly known as Ulysses. His boyhood days were 
not more eventful than those of other lads similarly 
situated in a new country. While his father was com- 
paratively well-to-do, the comforts of a home in the 
West in those days were not many, and the hardships 
were numerous. 

The life young Grant led was calculated to bring out 
the really manly qualities of the boy. He had much 
of his mother's disposition, and was quiet and reserved, 
without being diffident. He was really older than his 
years after he began to take any part in the affairs of 
life. It is said of his mother that she was more of a 
woman at seven than most girls at twenty. So is it true 
of her son that he was more of a man at twelve than 
most boys at twenty. He was always fond of outdoor 
sports, and was industrious beyond his strength. He 
learned to read before he was seven, and to ride on 
horseback before he could read. He early evinced a 
willingness to study, and could learn easily almost any- 
thing he put his mind to. He showed more of a dis- 
position for arithmetic than any other branch of study, 
and was quite an adept at figures. Hut he was never a 
hard student. 

There are a number of people still living who were 
his early playmates. In and about Georgetown, the 
village where he spent his boyhood days, there are 
several men and women still following the currents ot 
everyday country life who knew of his comings and 



BIRTH AND BOYHOOD DAYS. 71 

goings in youth and were a part of them. Others have 
p;one out Into the world to make name and fame. 
Whether one speaks of him to the folks who still live 
about the countryside, or asks of those who have 
grown into our national life, the story of quiet, well- 
doing, it is the same. Admiral Daniel Ammen, now full 
of years and honors, who was one of the boys with him 
for some time, says : " Grant was one of the most 
remarkable lads I ever knew. We grew up side by 
side until I went to sea in 1836. We went riding, 
fishing, swimming and playing together. His mother 
was one of the most interestinof and charminof women 
I ever knew. She was exceedingly kind, ladylike and 
mild-mannered. I suspect that Grant inherited his 
kindly disposition from her, for I think his father was 
rather aggressive. 

"As a boy. Grant was kindness itself. I never saw 
him have a show of resentment, and I do not believe 
that he ever felt a tinge of it. He was never rude, 
oppressive or disagreeable to other children. He had 
pej-fect respect for everybody's feelings and a forbear- 
ance that was almost beyond Christianity. 

" His family say that I once saved his life. He was 
then about nine years old, and I some two years his 
senior. We went fishing, one day, in a swollen stream 
near our homes. While indulging in the sport he 
stepped on a poplar log, which was very slippery, and 
fell in. He was rather a sturdy lad, and made a vigor- 
ous attempt to get out, but the rushing tide bore him 
down stream. I ran along after him until I reached a 
foothold among some willows. As he came by I 
reached out, caught him by the clothing. and pulled him 
ashore. I don't suppose I should ever have remem- 
bered the incident but that he had on a red-striped 



72 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Marseilles waist, which was my envy and which I 
thought would be totally ruined by the ducking he had 
received. 

"The friendship which sprang up between us then 
has never dimmed. While he was growing up there 
was never any evidence of the great ability that has 
been drawn upon for the good of the country during 
the crisis through which we have safely passed. But in 
those characteristics of kindness, self-confidence and 
perfect self-possession, which I remember so well, Grant 
the man is but the higher development of Grant as i 
remember him in childhood." 

His crowning trait as a boy was his fondness for 
and mastery of horses. He drove a team and harnessed 
his own animals while he was so small that he had to 
clamber into the manger to put the collars and bridles 
on, and he could ride any horse brought to him. His 
fame as a horseman was throuohout the whole neiMi- 
borhood before he was twelve years of age, and every 
fractious animal was brought to him to be broken. He 
never pursued his penchant for gain, and an offer to 
pay was always followed by a refusal to handle the 
colt. Even in those early days he hated subterfuge 
of any character. He was straightforward, open- 
hearted, open-handed and fearless,' without bravado. 
He had a most equitable disposition, but would never 
allow himself to be imposed upon, and was often the 
champion of the rights of his young companions when 
they were infringed upon by the older school-boys. It 
is related of him that even in his bo)hood days he 
hated anything like deception. There is a story told 
of him that a neighbor who once sent him on a sham 
errand so that he might teach his young horse to pace, 
incurred his lasting displeasure. He taught the animal. 




GRANT'S liOY-lIOOD DAYS IN OHIO. 



r73) 



74 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

but finding- out that he had been the butt of a trick, he 
forever afterwards refused to teach a horse to pace, 
although he was regarded as an expert at it. He could 
ride a running horse standing upright on his back and 
other equally difficult feats while yet very young. 

Most of his younger days were spent in the work of 
the farm, and he was a most valuable hand. He attended 
the district school, and up to the time that he was 
seventeen years of age got all the education he had, 
except a term at the Maysville, Kentucky, Academy, 
from the common country school-master. Mr. W. W. 
Richeson, the teacher at the head of the Maysville school 
when young Grant entered in the winter of 1836-37, is 
still living, and after all these years bears this good 
testimony to his character as a pupil : " In his classes he 
sustained himself with credit, and his conduct and gen- 
eral bearin<r was the lifelike miniature of General U. S. 
Grant, the great soldier and statesman of the present 
era. During his school days at Maysville Seminary he 
ranked high in all his classes, and his deportment was 
exceptionally good. The importance of order, decision 
and consistency seemed to have impressed him at an 
early age." 

Before he was twelve years of age he was so well 
grounded in knowledge of the material things of this 
world and so well equipped with a fair education that 
he was sent to Louisville to transact business of 
importance, and while yet so young he used to haul his 
father's leather or wood to Cincinnati, and bring pas- 
sengers back to Georgetown, to which place the family 
had moved from Point Pleasant while he was yet a baby. 

Stories of him when he was a lad are not numerous, 
but such as there are show him to have been a selt- 
reliant boy, calm and inflexible under the most trying 



BIRTH AND BOYHOOD DAYS. 75 

circumstances. It is related of him that while crossing 
the Ohio riv^er once, when twelve years of ac^e, with two 
young- ladies, the water had risen so high that his 
horses were soon swimming and the w-agon-body full 
of water. The ladies were frightened and began 
screaming for help, whereupon Ulysses, with perfect 
composure, guided his horses coolly towards the oppo- 
site shore, and turning- to the women he said, "Keep 
quiet, please. I'll take you through safe," and he was 
as good as his word. 

Much has been said and written about his life as a 
tanner boy. His father relates the story that he was 
never at home in the tannery, and before he was 
fifteen years old he orave him warnino- that he would 
never work at the business after he became of age. 
He was fond of driving the team and doing the out- 
side w^ork of the leather business, and this was about 
all. He never amounted to much as an inside hand. 
His most earnest desire, often expressed, was to have 
a thorough education and then become a planter in 
the Southern States. His father, who was warmly 
attached to the manly boy, and fearing that his self- 
reliant quality and independent spirit would take him 
away from home at an early age, interested him in the 
idea of going to West Point. This young Ulysses 
finally agreed to do. His father at this time was 
naturally a man of position and considerable influence, 
for he commanded the services of Senator Morris, and 
the last official act of Thomas L. Hamer, as the Con- 
gressman of the district, was to nominate Ulysses S. 
Grant to the Secretary of War for the military academy, 
to take the place of a lad who had failed to pass his 
examination. 

Young Grant's life was thus changed, at the age ol 



76 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

seventeen, when his training and general disposition 
made him the superior of most boys at twenty-five. 
Not that he had shown any quahty of leadership over 
the lads of his own aofe, for he was never obtrusive 
or arrogant, and such forces as he had were exer- 
cised in so kindly a way that no one looked upon him 
as a hero, even in the boyish sports. 

Indeed he was so unassuming as to be called 
"commonplace," and the lawyers, and doctors, and 
store-keepers of the neighborhood wondered that some 
brighter lad had not been selected to represent the 
community at the national school on the Hudson. His 
mother's teachings, the necessities of his hard country 
life and his father's example all combined to make him 
remarkably undramatic, unimaginative and genuine. In 
dress, manners and aspirations he was wholly unlike 
most boys with his opportunities. He was a favorite 
rather than a superior among his early associates. He 
evinced anything but a military spirit or inclination and 
there was nought of the soldier about him. 

In all this he differed very widely from any other lad 
who in after years grew to be a great commander of 
men. Washington, at eleven, had liis miniature camp 
around his Virginia home, and fought sham battles with 
his playfellows. Being educated with great care, tender- 
ness and with a crood deal of the aristocratic tendencv, 
he asserted himself the superior of his playmates and 
forced an acknowledgment of his superiority. 

Napoleon began to study war as soon as he could 
read, and his mother's garden was filled with fortifica- 
tions and small cannon, which lie fired each day as if he 
were conductingr a siee^e or fiofhtinof a batde. 

Napoleon was an arrogant, restless, studious, sechisive 
boy, who simply forced his superiority upon all who came 



BIRTH AND BOYHOOD DAYS. 77 

within his reach. The same warHke and arbitrary charac- 
teristics were to be found in WelHngton, NFarl bo rough, 
and nearly every other eminent soldier of whom the 
world has knowledge. It may be that the manner in 
which Grant was raised, the primitive conditions with 
which he was surrounded, or the peculiar character of 
our institutions which he was taught to revere as soon 
as he was taught anything, may have contributed to make 
him resolute, yet of simple tastes and wholly unmindful of 
Iiis own exceptional powers. vVhether this or other causes 
moulded him upon a very different pattern than the 
others, true it is that, from among all the great captains 
who have startled the world with their deeds, none 
other save Grant in boyhood, or manhood for that part, 
has ever shown any such quiet, even, magnanimous 
and guileless disposition. At no time in his life was 
he like other ereat warriors. Plain and unobtrusive, 
yet full of determination and manly self-assertion in 
every emergency while yet a boy, he simply carried 
those qualities to the fore through all his life. Even 
after he crrew to be the first soldier of the world it was 
often said of him that in his intercourse with his lieu- 
tenants his manners were so easy and his acts so un- 
demonstrative that his orders seemed more like re- 
quests than commands. 



CHAPTER IV. 



WEST POINT. 



Startling for West Point — Stops in Philadelphia — His associates at the Academy— 
His feats of horsemanship — General Quinnby's recollections of his school-days — 
General Rufus Ingalls tells of " Sam Grant" — How his classmates generally 
regarded him. 

From the homely mode of Hving in a western village to 
the pomp and show of West Point must have been a 
mighty change for a country lad. Yet young Grant ac- 
cepted the new life so suddenly thrust upon him, and made 
the best of it. No one could fathom in the round, com- 
posed face of this boy the impressions that his entrance 
into the military academy made upon his mind. He had 
been appointed to the place by accident, and practically 
against his wishes. The misgivings as to his success 
were many. Not that he was unpopular at home, but 
because his quiet manners and unassuming ways were 
taken for a lack of ability by the more pretentious folks 
found along every countryside. The preparations made 
for his journey east were the talk of the village, for all 
of twenty-five dollars was, spent upon his outfit. 

Neither the excitement of getting ready nor the de- 
parture disturbed the lad, v.'ho had, in the rough and 
arduous life of a farm hand and helper about the tannery, 
laid in a full stock of good health and rather crude ele- 
ments of power that made him accept without fear what- 
ever came to his lot. 

A journey from Ohio to New York in those early times 
and by the slow vehicles then in use was a different 
matter from a railroad ride at the present day. The 

(78) 



W^ST POINT. 79 

trip opened up to young Grant a new vision of life and 
gave him his first real impressions of the country he was 
in years to come to save trom dissolution, and to rule 
until the fruits of the peace he had made possible were 
about gathered. 

It was in the latter part of May, 1839, that he parted 
from his family and took the first step toward his mili- 
tary education. On the road to the academy he stopped 
in Philadelphia for a time. It had been one of the dreams 
of his childhood to see this place. Near the Quaker 
settlement his mother was born, and as her children grew 
up she had told them interesting stories of the beautiful 
land of Penn where her relatives dwelt and still dwell, 
upon that rich and charming stretch of country of which 
Doylestown is the centre. Here William 'Penn's acres 
and the revolutionary record of the settlement had made 
a historic spot. Young Grant, therefore, looked upon 
the Quaker City and its surroundings with feelings of 
mingled pride and wonder. His mother had taught 
him that it was her ideal place, dear to her for its early 
associations, and as the home of her kinsfolk. He wan- 
dered about its curious old streets, and in writing his 
impressions of it after his first visit said, it was kept so 
neat and clean that it looked as though it were always 
fixed up for Sunday. 

His relatives, two very old ladies who are now living, 
tell of his first visit with great delight. They describe 
him as a rather awkward country lad, wearing plain, ill- 
fitting clothes, and large, coarse shoes as broad at the 
toes as at the widest part of the soles. He strolled 
about the streets and along the Delaware, and made 
their brother's hat store on Chestnut street his head- 
quarters. During his years at school he always visited 
them during vacation, and after his first term told them 



80 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

that if he had known how strict the discipline was he 
did not beheve he would have ever gone to the military 
school. But," he added, "as I have started, I am bound 
to go through." 

His arrival at West Point was an incident of powerful 
import to him, while it was of slight consequence to the 
every day life of that institution. In those times the 
southern element predominated, at least in the control 
of the social life amono- the cadets. The lads sent there 
from the South were the sons of rich and influential peo- 
ple, whose money was obtained easily and spent lavishly 
upon the education of their children. The opposite was 
the truth in relation to the cadets from the North. Most 
of them were plain, unassuming, country lads, springing 
from the ordinary walks of life, generally poor in purse 
and witliout pretensions of any sort. With this latter class 
young Grant soon began his affiliations. Rufus Ingalls 
was then a country boy from Maine, J. F. Quimby from 
the sand-hills of New Jersey, and George Deshon from 
Connecticut, and with these and other boys of like 
character, young Grant soon became fast friends. He 
passed the first examination, which was quite simple then, 
without difficulty, and was admitted. 

The Congressman who gave him the opportunity 
to acquire a military education changed his name. He 
made Hiram Ulysses into Ulysses S. on the appoint- 
ment, and to make the record straight the boy so re- 
corded his signature when he entered the academy. An 
officer who evidently knows the facts tells the following 
story : 

"When young Grant reported at West Point as a 
' plebe,' it was necessary for him to report to the ad- 
jutant, who is furnished with a list of all the appoint- 
ments made. He was asked to sign his name in the 







MESS MAIX. 



NORTH BARRACKS, 




ACADEwr BUILDING 



BUILDINGS AND PARADE GROUND AT WEST POINT. 
F (81) 



82 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

academic register, which he did as ' Ulysses H. Grant.' 
The adjutant, upon looking over his list, found that there 
was no appointment for him, and informed him so, but 
added that there was one for Ulysses S. Grant. It is* 
v^uite evident that up to this point young Grant had 
not noticed the clerical error. 'The chano-e of an initial 
makes no particular difference to me ; my object is to 
enter the academy as a cadet,' was the quick and char- 
acteristic reply of young Grant." 

An effort made at the War Department to have the 
initials changed to the baptismal name failed ; so the 
mistake made by the Representative in Congress stood. 
It is just as well, and the events of after years have 
justified the foresight of the boys who soon called him 
"Uncle Sam." All through his cadetship, and until he 
grew well into man's estate, except when he was called 
Sam Grant, he was thus known. After his career in 
war began to attract attention, his earlier nickname 
was changed to United States Grant. 

At school, as at home, he took rather to the manly 
sports than to those duties which required hard mental 
work. He had no taste for society and no particular care 
about his dress. If he looked respectable that was suf- 
ficient, and in all the capers among the students in which 
strength of character and muscle were required, Grant 
was always even with the best of the boys; but he showed 
little disposition to study harder than would keep him 
up with the general average of his class. 

At West Point, there is a straining among the 
professors for style and show among the students. 
Neatness in dress, extra care of accoutrements and 
adeptness in handling arms, etc., were in those days, 
as they are now, at a premium, and the boys who 
dressed best, made the best show upon the parade and 



WEST POINT. 83 

took the most care in the details of a soldier's life got 
as a reward a release from post duty at night, and were 
aiven the extra position of color guard. Grant never 
was on the color guard, but he was the most daring and 
successful horseman of his class. When visitors were 
to be entertained with the movements of the cadets, 
where strength and courage had its inning, Grant was 
at home. 

His rude country life and his early love for horses 
cropped out constandy at West Point, where he was 
chief of the riding-school and always selected the fleet- 
est and most vicious horse as his mount. " Old York," 
a famous animal which no other cadet except one dare 
ride, was his favorite steed. Many of his classmates, now 
aged and gray, and most of them full of honors, recollect 
the boy as he went speeding over the riding lot at a 
breakneck gait, able at any time to take the fifth bar,, 
which was in those days, as it is yet, deemed a marvellous 
performance. No rider has as yet excelled Grant's jump 
on "Old York" of five feet, six and a half inches high. 
But for these feats of horsemanship and a few other ex- 

i ploits of rather rugged self-assertiveness which Grant 

left upon the annals of West Point, litde could be 
written about his school life there. It was a good thing 
for him and for the academy that the horsemanship 
exercise was added to the cadet's discipline just as Grant 
came there, for it helped to develop the manly qualities 
of the lad and eave him a relief from the discipline of the 
school, which was more or less irV:some to him. 

The class in which he graduated at about the centre 
was in many respects a remarkable one. It produced 

I several famous officers, but none with less prominence 

I in the class than young Grant. 

I InteresUng stories of his cadet days are few and far 



84 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

between. He had for his room-mate a greater portion 
of the time while he was on the Hudson his Connecticut 
friend, George Deshon, a Hvely lad from the Xutmeg 
State, who long since gave up army life to become a 
Catholic priest. Deshon, as well as Generals Rosecranz, 
John Newton, and quite a number of other boys were 
converted to the Catholic faith by a High Church Episco- 
palian named Parks. He was post chaplain and deliv- 
ered a series of sermons to the cadets during Grant's 
term, which savored very strongly of Catholicity. Parks 
afterward changed his views, but the seed he had sown 
bore its fruit in the conversion of several of the lads. 
Grant and Deshon roomed toofedier in the cockloft of the 
sleeping hall, and in the unauthorized forages upon the 
neighbors' orchards and melon patches always secured 
their share of the good things. 

The future General of the armies also made the usual 
trips to Benny Havens; but, unlike very many of the 
boys, he never set the rules of the school at open de- 
fiance. He was very tractable, good-natured and by no 
means as restless under restraint as most of the students. 

Professor Ouimby, of the Rochester University, was 
one of Grant's classmates and most intimate friends. 
Grant made him a general officer in 1862, and gave 
other evidences of his friendship for him while in the 
army. When he was elected President he appointed him 
United States Marshal for the Northern District of New 
York. His lifetime friend bears this testimony to his 
school character : 

" We met at West Point as boys. Both of us were lads 
from the country, and we drifted together from a sort of 
fellow feeling. My relations with him whenever and wher- 
ever wc have met in after life have been very intimate, but 
I can read his character best from our association in 



WEST POINT. 85 

boyhood. He was one of the purest-minded, most even- 
tempered and courageous lads I ever knew. To his 
friends he was perfectly transparent and to every one 
wholly without guile. I never heard him utter a profane 
or vulgar word in my life. He was always a boy of a 
good deal of native ability, although by no means a hard 
student. While he stood about the middle of his class, 
he could have graduated much higher if he had desired. 
If he happened to go into the recitation room without 
studying his lessons and was called upon to go to the 
blackboard to digest an example, he would always do 
something with it. To some extent he would show him- 
self master of the subject, and would have a good opinion 
about the details of whatever he undertook, even though 
he had given it no previous study. This native ability 
was always impressed upon me, as was the strength ot 
his character. Although we had not met for years and 
I had known very little of him since the Mexican war, 
when w^e parted, I to resume my duties as professor at 
Rochester and he to go west with his command, I never 
forgot the impressions his school life made upon me. 

" I recollect a conversation I had with the two leading 
professors of our institution immediately after the war 
began which illustrates it. Dr. Anderson said to me: 

" ' Quinby, who is the rising man ? Is it Halleck, 
McClellan, Rosecranz ? ' and he mentioned several other 
names. 

" To each one I said : ' I don't think so ! * 
'' ' Well, who is it ? ' he said. 

" 'There is a little fellow at Cairo, Illinois,' said I, 'who 
I think is o-oine to take the lead and be the man of all 
others capable of saving this Union. He is an old class- 
mate of mine, and I have known him from boyhood, since 
he was seventeen and I was eighteen years old. He has 



86 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the characteristics that are going to make him a ver)' 
prominent man and the leading general, I believe, in this 
war. He has got the daring, the determination and the 
ability combined.' I then spoke of McClellan and otlier of- 
ficers who were of great prominence and said: 'They are 
engineers by education, and military engineering is a sci- 
ence of defence rather than attack. They are too cau- 
tious. Grant will conceive a plan and push forward to 
its execution regardless of consequences. He is going 
to fight to the end when he sees a possibility of accom- 
plishing something.' Fort Donelson soon fell and Grant's 
career was begun. 

"It is my belief that not only the class, but most 
of the professors at West Point during his school-days 
had much the same estimate of him as myself" 

General Rufus Ingalls, who was with Grant during his 
school-days, speaks of their early life with much feeling: 

•'We went there," said he, "in June, 1S39, ^ ^'*om the 
State of Maine, he from Ohio. We arrived there the 
same day. We went through the academy together. 
Most of the time we were in the same section. In our 
studies we kept comparatively near each other. We 
graduated in the same class. Most cadets do not care 
much about the higher courses of engineering and math- 
ematics. They are more numerous than those who do. 
To graduate respectably is the general aim. In my 
whole service of forty years in the army I have never 
had any occasion to use the greater part of the educa- 
tion I acquired at West Point. Mv relations with Grant 
have always been familiar and cordial. 

" I remember his qualities very well and the distin- 
guishing features of his bo)hood. He was manly, 
straightforward, upright and disposed to be quiet with- 
out diffidence. He was talkative enough with his friends, 



WEST POINT. 87 

but his general characteristic was one of quietness. He 
never pretended to any style and never had any. He 
was quite the same when a boy as a man. Everybody 
had the utmost confidence in him as a young person of 
integrity, modesty, self-reliance and courage. We fol- 
lowed each other throucrh the school at West Point. He 
was a very moral boy. I never heard him use a profane 
or ugly word in my life. I do not believe he ever made a 
remark that might not have been repeated in the pres- 
ence of ladies, yet he enjoys the humorous part of a 
story immensely, and he can always repeat it with good 
effect without using offensive language. Comparatively, 
he was as good a talker when a lad as he is now 
among those who gain his confidence, but he never gave 
evidences of superior judgment or high attributes until 
his later years. That was a reserve force. Grant and I 
parted at West Point to take different paths in life. 1 
went into the Rifle Resfiment, afterwards the Second 
Dragoons, and he to the Fourth Regiment of Infantry. 
When our school-days were over, if the average opinion 
of the members of his class had been taken, every one 
would have said : ' There is Sam. Grant. He is a splen- 
did fellow, a good honest man, against whom nothing 
can be said and from whom everything may be ex- 
pected.'" 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM WEST POINT TO MEXICO. 

Graduation and assignment to the Fourth Infantry — Is sent to St. Louis and meets 
Miss Julia Dent — Fined several bottles of wine by Captain Buchanan — Army life 
in Louisiana — Visits the Rifle Regiment — Is a good hand at gander pulling — A 
characteristic letter — Goes to Mexico — An honorable record in his first war. 

The qualities of mind and character which Grant's 
classmates and associates say he evinced at the military 
academy followed him into his army life and out of it 
again. In talking with his companions his ambition 
was clearly for the cavalry, but as his standing in his 
class was not high enough to give him a choice, he was 
assigned to the Fourth Regiment of Infantry, a splen- 
did organization, in which there were some of the most 
famous officers of that day. To be a captain in the 
regular army was then a great honor. It took many 
years to reach that position, and the commander of a 
company was looked up to by the subaltern officers as a 
person to be both feared and respected. The army then 
numbered only about 7,000 men and one of its commis- 
sions was a passport into the best society of the land. 

With the lowest rank these parchments conferred 
young Grant started out to make his way in the world. 
On his route to the West he made another short stay 
in the Ouakc^r City. Admiral Ammen, his playmate, 
who saved him from drowning when a child, speaks of 
meeting him at Jones' Hotel, on Third street, then the 
famous hostelry of the city. It was situated in what is 
now the banking quarter. 

" We talked over," says the old naval officer, "our rccol- 

(88) 




LIEUT. GRANT AT THE AGE OF TWENTV-TWO. 

(89.) 



90 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

lections of the past and our hopes for the future, and I 
found the young man whom I had left but a few years 
before in Georgetown rather an ordinary boy, a self-re- 
liant, well-balanced, brevet Second Lieutenant of in- 
fantry." 

Lieutenant Grant at this time was stopping with his 
kinsfolks on Fourth street, and Miss Elizabeth Hare, 
one of them, who is still living a well-preserved lady 
of over ninety years of age and a school-mate of his 
mother's, recalls the young man and his peculiarities. 

" Ulysses was always very fond of his relations," said 
she, "and we regarded him as a smart boy. He was 
ever cheerful and agreeable. With us he was a good 
talker and told us a great deal about his life at West 
Point. • He often related his feats of horsemanship and 
his pranks with his companions. After he was through 
his studies, as well as while pursuing them, he disliked to 
wear his military uniform. Wlien he graduated, and be- 
fore he came to see us, he stopped in New York and 
bought a suit of citizen's clothes, with the exception of a 
hat. He always wore his military headgear. I remem- 
ber one day my sister, with whom he was going out, sakl 
'Ulysses, put on your military.' 'No,' he replied, 'I 
won't make a show of myself " 

After a short visit to his relatives in the East, he 
started home to enjoy his three months' vacation before 
joining his regiment. 

At the academy on the Hudson he had as a class- 
mate Frederick T. Dent, and with him he went to St. 
Louis to spend a part of his holiday. During this visit 
he met Miss Julia Dent, the sister of his host, and be- 
came greatly interested in her. Duty to his parents and 
a desire to renew his boyhood friendsliips took him to 
his Ohio home to spend most of his season of rest. 



WEST POINT TO MEXICO. 91 

The three months given him by law after his release 
from school passed rapidly, and before he had hardly 
settled down to the enjoyment of country life again, he 
was ordered to join his command at Jefferson Barracks, 
near St. Louis. He could not have been sent to a more 
delightful post. Army duty there was exceeding pleas- 
ant to every one, but to Lieutenant Grant it was especially 
so. Miss Dent resided only a short ride from the bar- 
racks, and the young Lieutenant could frequently enjoy 
his penchant for visiting her. Many of the old army 
officers stationed there still recall the assiduous court he 
began paying the young lady he finally married, soon 
after he reported for duty. 

The distinctions in rank in those days were much more 
rigidly enforced than they are now, and some of the older 
officers were very severe upon the young subalterns. 

In the Fourth Infantry, when Lieutenant Grant joined 
it, the officers had a general mess. It was presided over 
by one of the seniors, the secretary sitting at the foot of 
the table. Every thing in relation to it was conducted 
upon the same arbitrary system that governed all the 
different phases of army life. 

When young Grant began to exercise the duties and 
privileges of an officer. Captain Robert Buchanan was 
President of the mess. He was regarded as a martinet, 
and as being unusually severe upon the young officers. 
It was a rule of the table that any one coming in after 
soup had been served should be fined a bottle of wine. 
After Lieutenant Grant began paying serious attentions 
to Miss Dent, he would frequently get excused from the 
parade, ride over to her father's house and make a call. 
Naturally he was often late for dinner. Three times in 
ten days he came in behind the hour and was fined. The 
fourth time he arrived late, Captain Buchanan said: 



92 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" Grant, you are late as usual ; another bottle of wine, sir." 

Grant arose quietly and replied : 

" Mr. President, I have been fined three bottles of 
wine within the last ten days, and if I am fined again I 
shall be obliged to repudiate." 

The officer at the head of the table, with an evident 
show of ill-temper, said: 

" Mr. Grant, young people should be seen and not 
heard, sir." 

This incident, trivial as it may seem, was really one of 
great import to both men. Neither of them ever forgot 
it It left no resentment in the mind of the young one, 
but with Captain Buchanan it was different. Upon his 
temper it planted the seeds of a dislike which finally 
took Grant out of the army. 

The stay at Jefferson Barracks was long enough to 
enable young Grant to win Miss Dent from many ardent 
admirers, for she was very popular in the social world. 
But the pending troubles with Mexico put an end to their 
wooing, as the regiment was ordered South to become 
a part of the army of observation that was simply to 
halt on the threshold of our war with the country to the 
south of us. The Fourth Reofiment was stationed at 
Camp Salubrity, at Natchitoches, in Louisiana, where 
life was anything but dashing and the opportunities for 
pleasure very meagre. The characteristic letter here 
given \n facsimile tells in the young Lieutenant's own 
language his impressions of camp life, etc. It was writ- 
ten to the mother of the boy whose failure to pass the 
examination at West Point gave the writer a chance to 
acquire a military education. It is creditable as show- 
ing how well he kept and cared for his early friends, 
and interesting as illustrating the pride they took in his 
advancement. 





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100 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General Rufus Ingalls gives a most interesting story 
of his first meeting here with young Grant after their 
parting at West Point. The recent quartermaster-gen- 
eral of the army was stationed with his rifle regiment at 
Fort Jessup, some twenty miles from where the Fourth 
was encamped. 

"We were having hiq^h old times," says Gen. Ingalls. 
"We had a set of officers, splendid fellows, but wilder 
than the ciiaracters in • Charles O'Malley,' while Twiggs, 
the colonel, was away endeavoring to get his regiment 
remounted and put upon a footing with the First Dra- 
goons. So the scenes enacted at Fort Jessup during the 
time Grant was stationed in Louisiana would make a 
volume of better reading than 'Charles O'Malley,' if 
we had as good an author as Lever to put them in shape. 

" But when the colonel was present things were en- 
tirely different. He was a very superior officer. After 
the Florida war his command had been dismounted and 
its designation as the Second Dragoons changed to tlie 
Rifle Regiment. Not only Twiggs but all the officers 
were dissatisfied with this, and at the time of which I 
speak Twiggs was in Washington getting it restored 
as amounted regiment, and discipline was a little lax, 
but when he returned things were very soon put in good 
shape. 

"During the absence of which I speak, Grant would 
occasionally relieve the monotony of the staid life at 
Camp Salubrity by coming over and enjoying the hilarity 
at Fort Jessup. I remember his first arrival. He came 
in one day upon a frisky pony of very small size, and 
the boys laughed at liini. for he was usually in the habit 
of seekinor the largest and most vicious horse he could 
find. At that visit we had an interesting renewal of 
our early acquaintance. 



WEST POINT TO MEXICO. 101 

"The two regiments — the one to which Grant belonged 
and the one in which I held a commission — remained dur- 
ing 1844 and 1845 ^^ t^'^^s dismal country, and I saw him 
frequendy. He would come over and take his chance 
at gander pulling, horse racing and the usual sports of 
our camp, at which he was a good hand. We had some- 
thing new going on every day. Our post was situated 
half way between the Red and Sabine rivers, where 
there was very little underbrush. Game was plentiful, 
woodcock and large quantities of water-fowl. We 
would drive deer and shoot birds as one of the fea- 
tures of our recreation. Grant was not much of a shot. 
He never seemed to take great interest in the sports of 
the field, but could ride anything in the shape of a 
horse, and was a manly, popular young officer." 



CHAPTER VI. 

IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 

To the Rio Grande — In the Mexican War — Grant's first battle under Taylor — A( 
Vera Cruz with Scott — Gallantry at Chapultepec — Breveted ft)r gallantry — Always 
a good soldier — Quarter-master of his regiment — Reminiscences of him by old 
comrades. 

Relief from the monotony of post life in Louisiana 
finally came in the order to move to Corpus Christi. 
To this point Lieutenant Grant went with his regiment 
to watch and wait for the open declaration of war with 
Mexico. During this time his attachment for the Fourth 
Infantry had so grown that he would not leave it to ac- 
cept a commission as full Second Lieutenant in the Sev- 
enth regiment. The American army was then preparing 
for its first conflict with a civilized enemy after more than 
a quarter of a century of profound peace, and young 
Grant preferred to engage in batUe with those men with 
whom he had begun his army life. The initial batdes 
of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, which broke the 
thirty years' peace the American Republic had enjoyed, 
were fought by General Taylor in 1S46. In both of 
them Lieutenant Grant participated and demonstrated 
his soldierly attributes. 

From Matamoras to Monterey he followed Taylor's 
fortunes, and in the fight that took place under the 
shadow of Saddle Mountain he was commended for his 
gallantry. Several times during the batde he demon- 
strated his judgment and superior courage, not more 
in the fierce charge than in volunteering to make a 
dangerous ride under fire in search of ammunition. 
(11)2) 




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(108) 



104 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

In the movements made by General Scott for the cap- 
ture of the City of Mexico, the regiment in wliich young 
Grant was serving was withdrawn from Taylor's forces 
and sent to Scott's line. It is needless to follow in de- 
tail the early military life of the man who has since be- 
come such a distinguished soldier. He fought in every 
battle of the war in which he first engaged, save one, 
and from the start maintained his position among his 
comrades as a couracreous and thouQrhtful officer. He 
was frequently mentioned for acts of heroism, and was 
commended for his efficiency as quartermaster of his 
regiment. Too often the early acts of a man's life are 
written so as to tally with his later career. But no such 
necessity exists in this case. He was distinguished above 
many of the officers of his own rank. Soon after joining 
General Scott he was in the siege and capture of Vera 
Cruz, and the next day after it fell, April ist, 1S47, '^^'^s 
made regimental quartermaster. This appointment gave 
him some additional pay and immunity from participation 
in battle. But this relief he never sought or accepted. 
He was with his recriment in all encrairements and shared 
its fortunes. He would command a detachment, however 
small, for extra service, or do any other duty he could. 
Reserved as he was, this had attracted the attention of 
his superior officers, and September Sth, 1S47, ^^ Molino 
del Rey, he was breveted First Lieutenant *' for gallant 
and meritorious services." The casualties of that fieht, 
however, made him a full First Lieutenant, and this honor 
was not accepted. Five days later, at Chapultepec, 
General Worth makes his "acknowledgments to Lieu 
tenant Grant of the T'^ourth infantry for distinguished 
services." Captain Brooks of the Second artillery, 
under whom he fouHu a fraijment of the Fourth reoi> 
ment, says : 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 



105 



"I succeeded in reaching the fort with a few men. 
Here Lieutenant U. S. Grant and a few others of the 
Fourth infantry found me. By a joint movement after 
an obstinate resistance the strong field-work was carried, 
and the enemy's right was completely turned." 




Major Lee, in the report of his operations against the 
same fortress, " makes acknowledgments to Captain 
Brooks of the Second artillery, Lieutenant Grant of 
the Fourth infantry, and a few men of their respective 
regiments, for pushing up within short musket range of 
the barrier, and turning the right tlank of the enemy." 



106 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Major Lee also adds: "Lieutenant Grant behaved 
with distinguished gallantry on the 13th and 14th." 

Colonel Garland, in his report of the same battle, 
gives an account of mounting a howitzer on top of a 
convent, which Lieutenant Grant and Lieutenant Lend- 
rum directed, to the great annoyance of the enemy, and 
Colonel Garland adds: 

" I must not omit to call attention to Lieutenant Grant, 
wlio acquitted himself most nobly upon several occasions 
under my observation/' 

These commendations were followed by a brevet of 
captain for gallant and meritorious services. Grant's 
position as a valuable soldier was now fixed not only 
with those who served in the army, but with all those 
with whom he had any intercourse in the outside world. 
It is therefore unnecessary to go more into detail as to 
his record in the succeeding battles, which ended in the 
success of the American arms. Suffice it to say that he 
participated in every fight to the end. When the City 
of Mexico had surrendered, and some of our troops 
were murdered in the streets by the lawless prisoners 
whom it is said Santa Anna let loose as the American 
army was marching in, Grant was in the detachment 
that followed, and punished them for their crimes. 
Prompt and vigorous as he had been in battle and in 
all the requirements of actual service, so was he just as 
humane and harmless in peace. Colonel Floyd-Jones, 
who served with him in Mexico, gives these reminis- 
cences of their life there : 

"Yes, I was with Grant in Mexico; belonging to the 
same regiment," said the colonel. " lie was a fine soldier 
and a singular character, but showing in those early days 
none of the superior traits that have made him famous as 
a General. He was quiet and reserved, simply attended 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 



107 



to his duty without ostentation, and went into a fight 
without ado. I remember one very interesting occur- 
rence which happened just after we had captured the 
City of Mexico. Our regiment was ordered to take 
quarters at the Isabel Convent. Colonel Lee, our com- 




BOMBARDMENT OF VERA CRUZ. 



mander, applied for admission, but the priest shut the 
door in his face. He then knocked with vigor until 
the priest reappeared, when he explained to him that 
he was simply obeying his orders and must come in. 
The priest again shut the door rudely, whereupon Lee 



108 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ordered the pioneers forward with their axes, and they 
soon made mince-meat of the obstruction. The priest 
then recognizing the fruitlessness of resistance, simply 
made way for our command, and we remained there 
some time. Both the priest and the sisters soon recog- 
nized that our presence was not only agreeable, but a 
protection to them. 

" Grant, being quartermaster of the regiment, was one 
of the first to get on friendly terms with the priest. He 
had a nephew, a bright young Mexican, who also became 
attached to Grant, and used to go about with him fre- 
quently. Captain, since General Prince, had a magnificent 
horse which the young man was anxious to ride. Grant 
had invited him to dinner one day with the promise 
that he should mount the splendid American horse after 
the meal. The young man was well received and 
much admired by all the officers at the dinner table 
that day. After a pleasant occasion, the horses were 
saddled, and Grant and his companion went out for a 
ride. Approaching the outskirts of the city, something 
frightened the horse which the young Mexican was rid- 
ing, and he ran away. The youth, losing his presence 
of mind, perhaps, pulled on a single rein as the horse 
was dashing down the causeway at breakneck speed, 
and he jumped a w'ide ditch, threw the young man ofl 
against the trunk of a tree, killing him instantly. 

" Grant immediately raised the body up and carried it 
home, and his picture of its reception by the mother was 
*one ot the most touchinix thinors I ever heard,' savs 
General Prince, in writing of the sad occurrence only 
the other day. The officers all called upon the heart- 
broken relatives, expressing their deep sorrow at the 
accident, and at the funeral most of them attended, Grant 
with the rest, kneeling and holding a candle in his hand 
throucrh the lono- church service. 




GENERAL SCOTT ENTERING THE CITY OK MEXICO. 

(109) 



110 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"Sometimes durincr the Mexican war he was doinor 
double duty as adjutant and quartermaster of the regi- 
ment, and amidst the bustle of moving armies, in the heat 
of an engagement or in the quiet of the camp, he was 
ever the same good-natured, unenvious and resolute man. 

" He had a very keen idea of the humorous, and 
among his companions would talk freely and interest- 
ingly. His penchant for horses was very marked. 
He was one of the leaders in making a race-course for 
the pastime of the officers after we had captured the 
City of Mexico. He was always fond of a good anecdote, 
and he frequently regaled us with tales of happenings 
to him in the discharge of his duty. 

"I remember one day his coming into the quarters and 
telling a story to illustrate the toughness of the Mexican 
burro. He said he had been out with a heavy quarter- 
master's wagon to the outskirts of the city, and in com- 
ing in one of the little jackasses that act as beasts of 
burden in the land of Guadaloupe and Hidalgo, laden 
with a quantity of stone, laid down in the road to rest. The 
teamster not seeing him, the heavy army wagon passed 
directly over his body. The little beast got up, shook 
himself, looked around with a sort of disgusted air and 
passed on as though nothing had happened." 

It is hard at this distant day to gather up the inci- 
dents of a young man's life before he was much more 
than an ordinary character. Nor is it easy to procure 
reminiscences of him forty years after the events upon 
which they are based occurred, but it can be said of 
Grant, the young soldier, that he was a thorough man, 
meeting to the fullest the responsibilities of every situa- 
tion in which he was placed. As at school, so during 
his early service in the army, he was liked by ever)' one. 

Lieutenant Grant was fond of the active service the 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. Ill 

Mexican war imposed. He never seemed very well 
contented with the humdrum of camp life in time of 
peace, and the lessons of war that he learned in Mexico 
were of infinite value to him in after life. He was always 
a great observer and took careful note of everything of 
importance that passed him. His youthful fancy that 
had been stirred by the gorgeousness of General 
Scott's appearance on the parade ground at West Point, 
and of the magnificence of Captain C. F. Smith, com- 
mandant of the school, was materially changed after the 
march and fight incident to an actual confiict. He 
liked General Taylor, who was direcdy the opposite of 
Scott so far as style went. He dressed very plainly and 
had very litde care for the showy part of army life. 
Grant followed his example. The war with Mexico, in- 
significant as it now appears to us, was of great value to 
the young officers who engaged in it. To none of them 
was it of more import than to Lieutenant Grant. It gave 
him an opportunity to make practical use of what he had 
learned at West Point at a time of life when he would 
never foreet its teachings. He had endured the mo- 
notony of ca'..ip life for two years, and he was called into 
action just as he was beginning to get tired of the lazy 
life of a peace footing. These facts are simply recalled 
here to serve as a finger-board pointing to the after-career 
of this soldier when he commanded more men than were 
ever led by mortal man since fire-arms were invented. 



CHAPTER VII. 



TO THE WESTERN FRONTIER. 



Return from the Mexican war — Stationed at Sackett's Harbor — Marriage — Prepar- 
ing for the Pacific coast — Crossing the Isthmus — Battle with cholera — At Fort 
Vancouver — Speculaiions which ended badly — Hoes potatoes, puts up ice and 
deals in pigs and cattle — Resigns from the army. 

The perfect peace with its rewards and responsibilities 
which followed our conflict with Mexico, brought the 
Fourth regiment of infantry back to its own country and 
scattered it alonof the crreat lakes from Plattsburcr, N. Y., 
to Green Bay, Wis. Brevet Captain Grant was stationed 
at Detroit and at Madison Barracks, in Sackett's Harbor. 
For a time he simply followed the humdrum duties of a 
regimental quartermaster. It was while thus engaged 
that he found ample time to renew his court to Miss 
Julia Dent, and in August, 1848, a little more than three 
months after our official settlement of the difficulties 
with Mexico, he led her to the altar. The marriage 
took place in St. Louis, and he returned to his army post 
with his bride to enjoy the congratulations of his com- 
rades and the comforts of a well-equipped station. 
Finally the pleasures of camp life near honie were broken 
up by an order for the transfer of the regiment to. the 
Pacific coast. The various companies were drawn in and 
sent to Governor's Island, New York, to prepare for the 
long journey by water to the Isthmus, thence overland 
to the Pacific, and reshipnient from there northward. The 
duties of a regimental quartermaster in thus preparing 
for the comforts of a regiment of men for so long a 
(n?) 



TO THE WESTERN FRONTIER. 113 

journey was by no means easy, but the officers attest tlic 
promptness and efiicicncy with which Lieutenant Grant 
provided for all the emergencies of the transfer. 

The voyage from New York to the Isthmus was prob- 
ably without any incident worthy of note, but General 
Henry Wallen gives an interesting account of the trip 
across the neck. He says : 

"Three companies of the Fourth regiment went around 
Cape Horn while the others crossed the Isthmus. Grant 
was with the latter detachment. So was I. The Panama 
railroad was not built then, and we went up the Chagres 
river to Cruces and the regiment marched across trom 
there. In this journey Grant's duties became very 
onerous. The ladies, wives of the officers, etc., had 
been sent forward in a boat under the escort of an offi- 
cer. While we were preparing to follow the report 
came back that a boat had capsized and those on board 
had been drowned. This naturally caused a great deal 
of anxiety, and Grant, myself and my company were de- 
tailed to go up the Chagres river and investigate. We 
had not proceeded far, however, before we ascertained 
that the boat which had turned over contained a num- 
ber of citizen passengers, and we sent back the pleasing 
intelligence that none of our party were injured. But 
we pushed on until we reached the ladies, where Grant 
in his capacity as quartermaster immediately perfected 
arran!7ements for sendincf them across the Isthmus, 
This had to be done on hammocks thrown on the 
shoulders of men, with relays provided at convenient 
distances along the two days' journey. 

"Before we reached our destination on the other side 

the rumor came that cholera had broken out there, and 

when we arrived at Panama we found that it was true. 

We were placed on the steamer * Golden Gate ' imme- 
H 



11-i LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

diately after her arrival, and that night one of my men 
was taken with the cholera, and by daylight the next 
morning there were several cases on board. In the 
two weeks we remained in Panama Bay we lost i lo out 
of 700 men, the deaths one day amounting to thirty- 
seven. 

"The doctors desired Captain Patterson, of the 
'Golden Gate,' to pull up anchor and start for San 
Francisco ; but he, having been in the Asiatic country 
and knowing more of the peculiarities of the disease than 
they, said that he would not do so, but would put every- 
body on shore, fumigate his vessel, and then would 
take the well and convalescent and proceed to San 
Francisco. The next day we were all landed on the 
island of Flamingo, and camp was established. Not a 
single case occurred after we reached the land. This 
proved that the captain was right ; he thoroughly dis- 
infected his vessel, then started for San Francisco, and 
the cholera was at an end. This Captain Patterson 
whom Grant met during that trying ordeal he afterwards 
made chief of the coast survey when he became Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

•' Grant was one of the coolest men in all these trying 
emergencies I ever saw. I remember during that dismal 
time in Panama bay that he, a Major Gore and myself 
sat playing a friendly game of euchre, when Major Gore 
suddenly dropped his hand, turned pale and said : 

" * My God, I have got the cholera ! ' Grant, in the 
most nonchalant way. undertook to quiet his tears by 



'& • 



"'No. major, you have only eaten something that 
does not agree with you.' Put the doctor was sum- 
moned, and although everything possible was done. Gore 
died before morning, the only officer we lost. 



TO THE WESTERN ERONTJ^R. 115 

"Our destination on the Pacific coast was Fcrt Van- 
couver in Washington Territory, about no miles from 
the mouth of the Cohmibia river — a beautiful place, 
which was occupied by the Hudson Bay Company. Here 
Lieutenant Grant continued his duties as quartermaster 
for a year or more, and the service was pleasant. Our 
relations were quite intimate, and I had some very 
amusing- speculations with him during that time. 

" When we got' to Vancouver we found that Irish 
potatoes were worth eight or nine dollars a bushel, so 
Grant and I agreed to go into a potato speculation. W^e 
rented a piece of ground from the Hudson Bay Company, 
and as Grant had been a farmer he was to plow it, and 
I was to cut and drop the potatoes ; we were to tend 
them together. Our capital was joined to buy the seed, 
neither of us having much money. We then went to 
work with a will and planted a large patch, and in the 
fall reaped a rich harvest ; but when we came to gather 
them, and look out for a market, it was found that every 
one had raised Irish potatoes, and instead of being eight 
or nine dollars a bushel they were worth nothing. 
We finally had to pay some of the farmers to haul the 
potatoes away out of a magazine that was borrowed 
from the commandant of the post in which to store them. 

"Grant, the present General Ingalls and myself then 
went into an ice speculation, and put up loo tons of ice 
on the Columbia river. We then sent a runner over 
to Portland to see Captain Dall, of the Pacific Mail 
Steamship Co., expecting to get him to take our ice to 
San Francisco, where a fabulous price could be had for 
it. He agreed to charter a brig lying at Portland, if we 
would allow him to come in as fourth owner of the ice. 
We consented, and he brought the brig around. The 
ice was loaded aboard, and he started to tow the brig to 



116 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the ocean. When they reached the mouth of the river 
the weather was so good, and such a fresh breeze was 
blowing, tliat Dall ordered the captain to pull in his 
hawser and sail down to F"risco ; but adverse winds 
came on, and it was six weeks before he reached the 
harbor. By that time a large quantity of ice had been 
brought in from Sitka, and when ours arrived there 
was no market for it. Captain Dall took upon himself 
the responsibility of sending the brig up to Sacramento, 
and when she got there, there was not ice enough in her 
to pay the towage from San Francisco up. 

" Then Grant and I engaged in a cattle and pig specula- 
tion. I went down to San Francisco to attend to the 
duty of selling, the animals, and Grant sent them 
down to me. We continued that business until both of 
us lost all the money we had, and when I got back to 
Vancouver three or four hundred dollars were yet due 
him, for which I was obliged to give my note and after- 
wards pay it off in instalments. 

" Neither Grant nor myself ever had the slightest sug- 
gestion of business talent. He was the perfect soul of 
honor and truth, and believed every one as artless as him- 
self. His faithfulness to friends was one of his striking 
characteristics, and he was a favorite with everybody. 

"We parted at Fort Vancouver when he was pro- 
moted to a Captaincy and assigned to a distant post. 
Soon after that he resigned, the duties of army lite in 
peace not being congenial to him, and we separated, 
never to meet again until he was General-in-chief ol the 
armies. I never knew a stromrer, better or truer man." 

It has been a j:>leasant task to visit the veterans who 
through the mist of this long time recall their early as- 
sociations with the man whose career has stood the test 
of time and whose earliest acts are recalled with zest by 



TO THE WESTERN ERONTIER. 117 

the men who were then his companions as they have 
ever since been his earnest friends. 

It cannot often be said of a man that he runs in the 
race of hfc for many years without friction with only one 
of the men with whom he is brought in close contact. 
Yet all those now livino- who know the facts of Grant's 
early career in the army aver that they never knew of 
his having the least unpleasantness with any one except 
the officer who seemed to take a dislike to the young 
Lieutenant very soon after he reported for duty at the 
St. Louis barracks. 

Grant is remembered durinor his service in the West 
much as he is recalled by his school companions. He 
was most interested in the manlier sports, and man}' of 
the old officers recall him as he would go galloping at 
break-neck speed, jumping the tongues of the six artil- 
lery caissons in succession. 

In the social life of the camp he and Rufus Ingalls 
were two notable characters, and there are hundreds of 
reminiscences of their odd bout at cards, where each 
would play as earnestly for a stake of twenty-five cents 
as they would for that many dollars. 

There is no room for doubt but that Grant's promo- 
tion and transfer from the genial atmosphere of Fort 
Vancouver caused his retirement from the army. After 
he reached a Captaincy he was assigned to a post where 
his superior officer was the same Captain Buchanan 
who had so ungraciously sat upon him at the mess 
table in St. Louis soon after he had joined his regi- 
ment. This officer made his duties at Humboldt any- 
thing but pleasant, and a wish to get away from his petu- 
lance and petty tyranny, as well as a longing to see his 
wife and children who were in St. Louis, induced him to 
resign his commission in July, 1854. 



118 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

One of the officers of the old regiment now writes thus 
about his retirement: 

" I remember meeting Grant after his resignation, and 
althoucrh our conversation was a short one, it left the 
impression on my mind that he had become disgusted 
with army life as he found it at his new post, and had 
left it without giving the step careful consideration. He 
spoke of his earnest longing for the quiet life of a farmer. 
It was apparent to me then that his boyhood ambition 
to be a tiller of the soil had returned, and, being irritated 
by the petty annoyances about an unpleasant post, with a 
captious commander who did not like him, he had re- 
solved to return home. There was a story about charges 
against him ; but, if there were any, I do not believe they 
would have had any such effect as to have induced him 
to resign. He had no reason to care for any allegations 
that could be trumped up against him by any one. He 
knew there were none that touched his moral character, 
or that would have diminished confidence in his integrity 
and value as an officer, which was then fully established 
in all army circles. The worst charge that ever I heard 
suo-o-ested would have resulted, if proven, in no incon- 
venience to him. It might possibly have subjected hmi 
to a reprimand from the colonel of the regiment, yet 
even this would have taken the form of a handsome 
compliment to his well-known traits of character and 
conduct. I never knew a man better than I have known 
Grant, and I never knew a better man." 

The Fourth regiment of infantry contained the warm- 
est friends Grant had among men. At Fort Vancouver 
he had been one of the chiefs of an interesting circle. 
General Rufus Ingalls, Commissary-General IMcFeely, 
Generals Auger, Alvord. Prince, Wallen and a number 
of other notable characters were his companions. Grant 



TO THE WESTERN FRONTIER. 119 

as regimental quartermaster lived with Ingalls and Brent, 
both officers of higher rank, in a comfortable house Ingalls 
ordered made in his native State and brought around by 
water and set up in that distant country. 

Every officer serving with Grant, either in Mexico or 
at this post, bears testimony to his sterling traits of 
character and his universal popularity. 

It was while doing duty here that Grant fitted out the 
expedition commanded by General George B. McClel- 
lan (then a captain) for the survey of the Northern Pa- 
cific railroad. This officer w^as his guest while the 
preparations were being made for the exploration of 
that new section of the country. 

The pleasant associations made and friendships ce- 
mented at this post were never broken. The sports of 
the camp, the little games of chance among the officers, 
their rides and hazards of winter and spring were all a 
part of their early education that was never forgotten. 
When honors were heaped upon the one whom almost 
every one regarded as the least likely to fill out to great- 
ness under the stress of grave responsibilities he never 
forgot, in the distribution of favors, the humblest of 
those men who were with him in his early career at 
school, in Mexico or along the western wilderness. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FROM THE ARMY TO FARMING. 

Cut of the army — Estimate of his character by an nhl comrade — Tlis farm life near 
St. Louis — Hauling wood to market — >Ieeting old army officers — On the threshold 
of war— How he stood at the beginning — A characteristic letter. 

From a captaincy in the regular army back to the 
walks of an humble private citizen was a long distance 
in 1S54. There were but few captains then, and a man 
holding that rank was looked up to as having attained 
a position in the army that was truly enviable. Many 
men with far less ability than Grant would have gone out 
into the business world and made their mark ; but to deal 
successfully with the hurly-burly of trade a man must 
not be overly nice as to mediods, and must have a push 
and dash that did not usually belong to the men educated 
for the army. Grant's ability was not of that character, 
nor had his training been of the kind that would fit a 
man for a combat with people whose whole lives had 
been spent in making financial headway. To be sure, he 
had always been industrious. When he hoed potatoes, 
put up ice or dealt in pigs at Fort \'ancouver, he was 
doing his best to accumulate something; but in every 
one of these speculations he had demonstrated his lack 
of business talent and his inexperience in worldly af- 
fairs. He was too guileless and confiding to run a suc- 
cessful race in the heat of speculation. 

There an- many stories as to wliy he left the army, 
but the preceding chapter tells the facts. There is no 
doubt but that the wild life on the frontier, with few pros- 

(120) 




(121) 



122 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

pects of improvement, was distasteful to the man who had 
found little pleasure in a soldier's career except inactive 
service. The routine duties of camp-life were never 
tasteful to Grant, and he had been best satisfied when his 
capacity had been drawn upon to the fullest, and he had 
been in the heat of battle or in the midst of preparation 
for war. He never seemed quite satisfied unless he was 
doing- something to keep his mind and body busy. One 
of the old officers, who has been intimate with liim all 
his life, speaking of his peculiarities, says : " On drill 
he made no show as a soldier and appeared to take 
no interest in it, but when he was put on duty as regi- 
mental quartermaster in Mexico the affairs of that posi- 
tion were put through with such promptness and so sat- 
isfactorily to every one as to excite wonder as to when 
he attended to them, and how he learned them. The 
explanation was found in the directness with which he 
applied his tireless energy to his duties, and the quali- 
ties of mind that made him see all the requirements 
of the position in advance, and his aptness in so hand- 
ling theni as to give him plenty of time to be in every- 
thinir else that was sroinor on." 

After his resignation had been accepted he left for 
St. Louis to join his wife and children and to take a new 
start in life. The town, along the Mississippi, did not 
then bear a very striking resemblance to the magnificent 
city of the present day; and on a small farm not very 
far from its environs, which his father-in-law, Mr. 
Dent, presented to his wife. Grant began life anew 
at the age of thirty-five. His experience as a farmer was 
as uneventful as that of most other mien engaged in 
a similar avocation. He mowed, reaped, sowed and 
orenerallv made a full hand at all the laborious work 
of the field. He cut cord-wood, hauled it to St. Louis, 




HOUSE WHKRE GRANT WAS MARRIKD AND KliSIUEN'CE WHEN TIMES WERE HARD. 

(1-^ ) 



124 LIFE OF GENERAL GRAXT. 

sold It for a small price, and did the best he could to get 
along in a rough contact with the world. While a hus- 
bandman he knew few people and made few acquaint- 
ances. Frequently he would meet some of his old 
comrades, but besides revivin^f with them the recollec- 
tions of his early days in the army he had little recrea- 
tion. He wore the garb of a farmer, and fulfilled the 
duties of an agriculturist as best he could. ]\Iany of his 
old officer friends, who saw him while he was making a 
hard struggle to gain a living, tell of the perfect freedom 
with which he spoke of his new life to friends, and the 
good temper with wdiich he accepted its responsibilities. 
One of them now wTites of meeting him on the steps of 
the Planters' House in St. Louis, dressed in the homely 
garb of a horny-handed son of toil, with pants tucked 
in his boots and his blacksnake whip in his hand. 

He sa)s : "I was very glad to see him. I was just 
coming out of the hotel and met him on the steps going 
in. I turned to go back with him, when he said, ' Xo, 1 
have only come up to market with a load of wood, and a 
mutual friend telling me you were here, I have called to 
ask you to come down to the farm and spend a week 
with me.' Again I invited him to my apartments in the 
hotel, but he declined to go, as I supposed then on ac- 
count of his rough garb. He made no other request of 
me than to be his guest, and then hastened back to the 
market place. In this little interview, which began and 
ended on the steps of the hotel, his manner threw out 
evidences of his character just as I had always seen and 
read it in the army and excited my warmest admiration. 
I have heard a story going the rounds that General 
Sedgwick had said that I told him, at this interview, 
Grant was on a spree and had requested the loan 
of twenty-five cents. I desire to deny in as emphatic 



FROM THE ARMY TO FARMING. 125 

terms as I can that such was the fact, and it is utterly im- 
possible that General Sedgwick could have made any 
such statement. It is purely the creation of some per- 
son's idle fancy. I recall the conversation perfecdy well 
in which I related to General Sedgwick this meeting with. 
General Grant in 1859, and of distincdy saying that there 
was no more the appearance of dissipation in Grant's 
face and manner than in those of a child. I recall how 
Sedgwick and myself reviewed together the mighty 
changes four years had brought to Grant. We con- 
trasted the dress In which he had hauled his wood and 
the uniform of power he was at the moment of our con- 
versation entitled to wear in handling the armies. Both 
of us agreed that merit, not fortune, was the medium of 
the phenomenon." 

Professor Henry Coppee writes of meeting Captain 
Grant during his farming experience, and pictures a group 
composed of General Joseph J. Reynolds, General Don 
Carlos Buell, Major Chapman of the cavalry, Grant and 
himself at the Planters' House in St. Louis, where they 
were having a pleasant reunion. Mr. Coppee describes 
Grant very much as General Henry Prince has in the 
above paragraph, with his coarse clothes, whip and other 
accompaniments usual to a toiler. He also gives the 
same account of his brown, healthy appearance, and 
sober, manly bearing. 

It is a common failing with humanity to gossip about 
people who gain high places in the world's affairs. Then 
their lives are surrounded with more or less of mystery 
which only the imagination, that is always lively, can 
fathom. Grant could not expect to be free from this 
ugly penchant, but it is next to impossible for a man of 
his peculiar habits of mind and body to have been very 
dissipated. Men of his equitable temperament and well- 



126 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

poised elements are not apt to go to excesses of any 
sort. There is no desire here to picture this hero as a 
saint, or present him as an ideal man. There is no doubt 
but that he was like most other men of his age. He was 
fond of company and loved a reasonable amount of sport, 
but it is the steady record of his life that he never ran 
toward anything like an excess. At times no doubt he 
took a glass with a friend, as he loved a social game 
with those who were worthy of his confidence. Men 
who take a glass of wine for its social quality may some- 
times take more than is good for them. This was, no 
doubt, true of Captain Grant ; but in following the record 
of his life among the men who have known him best 
from childhood, the universal testimony is that he was 
a fair, honorable and well-behaved citizen ; indeed 
in most respects a model one, notwithstanding every 
frailty that could truthfully be laid at his door. 

The fabric of the man was never marred, and his 
habits that have been commented upon were only the 
safety-valve for his homely, resolute qualities which 
lacked full employment. 

Ill-luck in making money outside of his chosen pro- 
fession as a soldier followed him from Fort Vancouver, 
and after a short fiorht with rouQ^h farm duties he left 
his acres for a settlement in St. Louis. Here he estab- 
lished a real estate and collection office, but the business 
was distasteful to one of his habits and inclinations, and 
after a brief struggle he dropped it. He then made an 
effort to be county surveyor, a position for which he was 
peculiarly fitted on account of his education at West Point 
and his experience in the army, but political influence 
was stronger for a less competent man. A minor posi- 
tion in the custom house was his next occupation. This 
he held until the place was wanted for a person with 



Jim'; 








(127) 



128 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

more Influence, and then he was warned off. There is a 
great deal that is manly in the fight he was then making 
for a living, but it was wholly uninteresting and un- 
eventful. 

The contest in St. Louis went so dead against him 
that he accepted a proposition from his father to join in 
the leather business at Galena. So in the early part of 
i860 he made another move, this time to the avocation 
his father had taught him when a boy, before he had a 
thought of learning the profession of a soldier, but rather 
was filled with the dreams of a respectable education and 
a planter's career. His life in Galena was not con- 
spicuous. He went about his duties in a practical, com- 
mon-sense way, making no stir and forming no acquaint- 
ances except among those with whom he had business. 
People who could get under his natural reserve liked him. 
He was as popular with those who knew him in civil life 
as he was with his military companions. But few men 
were able to reach into the sterling qualities of the man. 
Therefore it was not unnatural that at the beginning of 
the war he knew little or nothincr of the leadinir citizens 
of the place, and they knew less of him. He had never 
taken any part in politics, and had never voted but once. 
He had no acquaintance with the member of Congress 
from his district, and was without those social and politi- 
cal influences that favored most of the volunteer officers 
who sprang to arms as soon as the boom of the guns at 
Fort Sumter had awakened the land to war. 

Up to this time what little part Grant had taken in 
politics was on the Democratic side. He had voted 
for Buchanan instead of Fremont more on account 
of a lack of confidence in the Republican candidate 
than a regard for the Democratic. But his political 
views were known to be conservative, and in the wordy 




RESIDENCE OF CAPTAIN AND MRS. GRANT NEAR ST. LOUIS. 
' (129) 



130 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

controversies which preceded and brought on the war 
he stood rather between the two parties. When the 
question of fidehty to the country became the all-impor- 
tant one, Grant's attitude very materially changed. 
Sumter had not been fired upon before he began writ- 
ing to his relatives, most of whom were Democrats, to 
ascertain their position and to state his. This charac- 
teristic letter to his father-in-law shows how clearly he 
understood the situation. His forecast of the results of 

secession is also remarkable: 

Galena, April \i^th, iS6x, 

Mr. F, Dent: Dear Sir — I have but little time to write, but as in 
these exciting times we are very anxious to hear from you, and know 
of no other way but by writing first to you, I must make time. We 
get but little news by telegraph from St. Louis, but from all other 
points of the country we are hearing all the time. The times are in- 
deed startling ; but now is the time, particularly in the border slave 
State, for men to prove their love of country. I know it is hard for 
men to apparently work with the Republican party, but now all party 
distinctions should be lost sight of, and every true patriot be for main- 
taining the integrity of the glorious old Stars and Stripes, the Consti- 
tution and the Union. The North, is responding to the President's 
call in such a manner that the Confederates may truly quake. I tell 
you there is no mistaking the feelings of the people. The Govern- 
ment can call into the field 75,000 troops, and ten or twenty times 
75,000 if it should be necessary, and find the means of maintaining 
them, too. It is all a mistake about the Northern pocket being so 
sensitive. In times like the present no people are more ready to give 
their own time or of their abundant means. No impartial man can 
conceal from himself the fact that in all these troubles the Southerners 
have been the aggressors, and the administration has stood purely on 
the defensive — more on the defensive than she would dared to have 
done, but for her consciousness of strength and the certainty of right 
prevailing in the end. 

The news to-day is that Virginia has gone out of the Union. But 
for the influence she will have on the other border States, this is not 
much to be regretted. Her position, or ratlier that of eastern Virginia, 
has been more reprehensible from the beginning than that of South 
Carolina. She should be made to bear a heavy portion of the burdeu 
of the war for her guilt. 







RESIDENCE IN ISeO. 



GRANT'S RESIDENCE AND HIS FATHER'S STORE IN GALENA, ILL. 



(131J 



132 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

In all this 1 can but see the doom of slavery. The Northerners do 
not want, nor will they want, to interfere with the institution, but 
they will refuse for all time to give it protection unless the Southerners 
shall return soon to their allegiance; and then, too, this disturbance 
will give such an impetus to the production of their staple — cotton — 
in otiier parts of the world that they can never recover the control of 
the market again for that commodity. This \yill reduce the value 
of the negroes so much that they will never be worth fighting over 
again. 

I have just received a letter from Fred [Frederick Dent, Jr.]. He 
breathes forth the most patriotic sentiments. He is for the old flag as 
long as there is a union of two States fighting under its banner, and 
when they dissolve he will go it alone. This is not his language, but 
it is the idea not so well expressed as he expresses it. Julia and the 
children are all well and join me in love to you all. I forgot to men- 
tion that Fred has another heir, with some novel name that I have 
forgotten. Yours truly, 

U. S. Gr.\nt. 

Very soon after writing this letter Captain Grant re- 
turned to Missouri and visited his friend, W. D. W. 
Barnard, wlio now says that Mr. Dent showed him this 
letter, and that they discussed it at length very soon 
after it was received. He also says that when Grant 
canie to see him they drove over to " Wish-ton-Wish " 
to have a talk with Mr. Dent. Grant had determined 
to go into the war, and desired to make provision for his 
family during his absence. Mr. Dent was a positive 
Democrat, and was by no means satisfied with his son- 
in-law's determination but Grant stated mildly but firmly ; 
that he had been educated by the Government, which 
was about to need the services of all its citizens, especially 
those trained to military duty, and, with his wife and 
children provided for, he had made up his mind. It may 
be reasoned from Mr. Barnard's story that the conversa- 
tion between him and his father-in-law was an earnest 
one, for not until Grant was about to leave did Mr. Dent 
state his conclusions. Then he remarked, after seeing 



FROM THE ARMY TO FARMING. 133 

that his son-in-law was determined to gro to war : " Send 
JuHa and the children here. As you make your bed so 
you must lie," 

Before all this had transpired, Captain Grant had at- 
tended two war meetings at Galena. At each of these 
gatherings he had met more people who held a place 
in the affairs of the community and had taken more of 
a public part among his townsmen than during his entire 
residence in Illinois. All throuoh that section of the 
State there was a strong Southern sentiment which was 
decidedly adverse to war. Grant himself was in favor 
of according the South its fullest rights, until it com- 
mitted the overt act of rebellion. Then in an instant 
he became earnestly opposed to any compromise that 
did not involve the submission of the South to the de- 
crees of the national crovernment. 

During the first meeting he attended he had been a 
great deal annoyed by the anti-war talk and the mani- 
fest sentiment against stubbornly maintaining the in- 
tegrity of the government. 

An impassioned appeal by John A. Rawlins, who 
was a Democrat, and credited with a lack of patriotism, 
afforded him great satisfaction. His speech was of such 
power and eloquence as to carry through an almost 
hostile assemblage these resolutions proposed by Mr. 
Washburne, then a member of Congress from that dis- 
trict, who afterwards became famous as a political leader : 

"Resolved — First — That we will support tlie Government of the 
United States in the performance of all its constitutional duties in this 
great crisis, and wi-U assist it to maintain the integrity of the American 
flag, and to defend it whenever and wherever assailed. 

" Second — That we recommend the immediate formation of two mil- 
itary companies in this city to respond to any call that may be made 
by the governor of the State. 

" Third — That we call on the Legislature, which is to assemble in 
extraordinary session on the 23d instant, to make the most ample pro- 



134 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

visions to respond to the call for troops now made or that may here- 
after be made by the President of the United States. 

" Fourth — That, having lived under the stars and stripes, by the 
blessing of God we propose to die under them." 

Notwithstanding this emphatic declaration, there were 
still plenty of objectors to any warlike demonstrations. 

On the 1 8th of April, however, just the night before 
Grant wrote the important letter to Mr. Dent herein 
presented, a meeting was called to organize a militar\' 
company and Grant was called upon to preside. Upon 
takino- the chair he was much embarrassed, and said, in 

O 

tones hardly loud enough to be heard : 

" Gentlemen, I thank you for honoring me with the 
position of chairman of this meeting. You know the 
object for which w'e are assembled. INIen are needed to 
help preserve the Union. What is your pleasure ? " 

The gathering was an important one, for the founda- 
tion of a military company was laid, which Captain 
Grant was next day called upon to drill and a few^ days 
thereafter to accompany to Camp Yates at Springfield. 

The events of these few days made an important 
turn in Grant's career. They had brought him quite 
prominently before his townsmen, secured him the 
friendship of the member of Congress from his district, 
and made John A. Rawlins such a warm friend that 
he followed his fortunes all through the conflict, to be- 
come Secretary of War after his chief was chosen to 
the Presidency. 

Grant had about attained his tliirty-ninth year and 
was full of the vieor of manhood when all these 
events were transpiring. He had been favored with a 
strong constitution, a well-knit frame and an equable 
temper that had borne the trials of army life and the 
knocks of adversity only to grow stronger and better. 

His latent powers of mind and body had been so 
well hidden that it took time for their development. 



FROM THE ARMY TO FARMING, 135 

What would have been shown in many men in a 
short time it took years to grow into full flower in a man 
of his peculiar temperament. The struggles through 
which he had safely passed increased him in mental and 
moral stature. He was never known to be much of a 
reader after he left the army, as he had never been a 
student in it. But his mind was thoroughly practical and 
fully competent to grapple with each new emergency as 
it arose. His education and mode of life had been such 
that he had no whims or high-flown theories, and when 
the rebellion called him to help defend the government 
that had educated him, he arose a splendidly equipped 
man for the emergency. 



CHAPTER IX. 

RETURN TO THE ARMY. 

War inf^pires him to return ;<) military duties — Scenes with the governor of Illinois 
— Dick Yates' first impression of Grant — Wants a place on McCIellan's staff — 
Is made Colonel of an unruly regiment — Marches it into Missouri — Made Brig- 
adier-General — Assigned to Cairo — Grant's first notable service. 

In seeking a new place In the army Captain Grant 
seems to have had almost as much difficulty as in mak- 
ing a success in civil life. He is said to have been the 
only man in the town who possessed any military train- 
ing. Yet having drilled the company composed of his 
townsmen, and reported with it to the State capitol, he 
was not offered the rank of captain, to which he aspired. 
He was too modest to push his claims, and he lacked 
friends to do it for him. Finding little interest taken in 
him amidst the hurly-burly of camp-life, which was then 
laying the foundation of the great body of citizen-soldiery 
Illinois sent to the war, he wrote a letter to the adjutant- 
general of the army offering his services and suggesting 
that he might be fitted to command a regiment. 

His communication to the war department was 
couched in very modest language. It tendered the ser- 
vices of the writer " till the close of the war, in such ca- 
pacity as may be offered." This letter was never an- 
swered, and Captain Grant continued to do all kinds ot 
military dut)' about the camp at Springfield and in the 
adjutant-general's office. He did not even get an 
humble place of this character without some difficulty. 

Years after he had grown to greatness, ("lovernor 
(136) 



RETURN TO THE ARMY. 137 

Yates gives this account of his first meeting with him. 
The miHtary affairs of the State were in much of a 
mix owine to the lack of educated soldiers to direct 
them. Mr. E. B. Washburne had recommended Grant 
to help out of the difficulty, and he had reported for 
duty. 

" In presenting himself to me," said Governor Yates, 
" he made no reference to any merits. He simply said 
that he had been the recipient of a military education at 
West Point, and now that the country was assailed he 
thought it his duty to offer his services, and that he would 
esteem it a privilege to be assigned to any posidon where 
he could be useful. I cannot now claim to myself the 
credit of having seen in him the promises of great achieve- 
ments, more than in many others who proposed to enter 
the military service. His appearance was not striking. 
He was plain, very plain ; but still something — perhaps 
his plain straightforward modesty and earnestness — in- 
duced me to assign him a desk in the executive office. 
In a short time I found him to be an invaluable assistant 
in my office and in that of the adjutant-general. He 
was soon after assiened to the command of the six 
camps of organization and instruction which I had 
established in the State." 

It was while Captain Grant was engaged in these half 
clerical, half military duties that he became almost dis- 
couraeed about ever eettinor a chance to enter active 
service. Captain John Pope, now Major-General, about 
that time, in conversation with him, advised his return to 
the regular army. Recognizing the value of influence, 
he suggested recommendations from prominent men as 
the best way to reach a commission. Grant declined to 
beg for indorsements to enable him to get a chance to 
fight for the country that had educated him, but instead 



138 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

appealed to the adjutant-general of the army in the 
letter before mentioned, * 

About this time he visited his father at Covington, 
Ky., and there endeavored to get an audience with 
General George B. McClellan, then at Cincinnati, in the 
hope of getting a place on his staff. After two or three 
unsuccessful attempts to penetrate beyond the cordon of 
aides-de-camp which then surrounded McClellan, he 
gave up hope in that direction. Very soon afterwards 
Governor Yates telegraphed him his appointment of 
commander of a demoralized regiment. Grant promptly 
accepted, and returned to Springfield to be commissioned 
as Colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois infantry. 

He had finally, after many trials, obtained what seemed 
the limit of his capacity as a military leader, as he himself 
estimated it in his letter to the adjutant-general of the 
army. This good fortune came to him just as he had about 
made up his mind to return to Galena and continue the 
leather business. It was the middle of June when he 
took command of the regiment, and it was not many days 
thereafter before it became noted for its good order 
and discipline. Being directed to go in camp with it at 
Quincy, 111., he demonstrated his practical ability to 
fit troops for active service by marching his com- 
mand across the country, simply for the purpose of disci- 
pline. While on his way he was intercepted with an 
order to take his reijiment to I ronton, Mo., to be 
transported by boats to St. Louis. While waiting for 
the steamboat he was sent to the relief of the Sixteenth 
Illinois infantry, which was reported to be surrounded 
by the enemy west of Palnnra. But the regiment was 
again stopped before it reached its destination on account 
of the change in the military situation, and for two weeks 
it was scattered along the Hannibal & St. Jo Railroad, 



RETURN TO THE ARiMY. 139 

doing guard duty, in die district commanded by John 
Pope, who since his advice to Grant had been made a 
brigadier-general. 

Durino- diis time it made one march from Salt river 
to Florida, Mo., and return, in pursuit of Tom Har- 
ris, who was in the vicinity with a handful of Con- 
federates. It was during this march that General 
Grant himself tells, in his interesting memoirs, of 
approaching the spot where he expected to find his 
enemy encamped, and feeling his heart rise higher and 
higher until he was nearly useless from the excitement. 
But his quick eye and ready percepdon soon made it 
clear to him that he was quite as much an object of ter- 
ror to the enemy as the enemy had been to him. If his 
own heart went up into his throat, he argued, so did the 
hearts of the men whom he fought ; and, that point once 
fixed in his mind, he never again felt fear in battle. 

After the return from this expedition the regiment 
was sent to Ironton, Mo., and while passing through 
St. Louis for that point Grant was assigned to duty as 
brigadier-general of volunteers, and very soon there- 
after began his real military career. 

Before he had been commissioned as colonel and 
while engaged in the perplexing duties of organizing 
volunteers and helping to keep straight the adjutant- 
general's office, he had shown such aptitude and zeal as 
to gain the good will of every prominent man with 
whom he had been brought in contact. So marked was 
this good opinion, that, without his knowledge, Mr. 
Washburne and the entire delegadon presented his 
abilities to the President in such a favorable light that 
he was given his first star, the commission to date 
from the 17th day of May, 1861, even before he had 
written his letter offering his services to the government 



140 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and nearly a month before Governor Yates had made 
him a colonel of an unruly regiment. He was, there- 
fore, one of the first seventeen brigadiers. 

General Grant's future was now in his own hands. 
He had secured a place in the army practically by 
accident. Men of litde or no capacity for military 
duty had been commissioned as colonels and generals 
while he was still wishing for a commission of almost any 
grade. The necessities of the service finally gave him a 
colonelcy and his own capacity had won him a star. 
Thirty-nine years of his life had been passed, during 
which period he had shown himself competent to dis- 
charge every duty that had been given him, and his mind 
as w-ell as his character had grown brighter in adversity. 
Both as boy and man he had seen shallow, preten- 
tious fellows rise above him, both in the shifts of the 
business world and in the army, yet he had never felt 
resentment, and went along in his quiet way, wondering 
only why the tide was against him, but well thought 
of by the few who knew him. 

Soon after his appointment as brigadier-general he was 
assigned to the command of the military district of Mis- 
souri. This comprised the southeastern part of that 
State, southern Illinois and all that territory in west- 
ern Kentucky and Tennessee that might fall into the 
hands of the Federal forces. Immediately upon his as- 
signment he was ordered to report to General Fremont 
at St. Louis, and such was the haste that he was sent by 
special train to that city. 

It is easy to imagine Grant's broad disgust at finding 
that, after all the hurry, it took him twenty-four hours 
to eet through the lines of staff officers with whicli 
General Fremont was surrounded. 

The 1st of September found him at Cairo, just estab- 



RETURN TO THE ARMY. 141 

lishing- his head-quarters in the muddy and unattractive 
town at the function of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. 
The place was filled with idle boatmen, and all that de- 
moralization that is inseparable from war w^as then ap- 
parent. He had about a brigade of raw troops, the 
conduct of which was not improved by their roug!^. sur- 
roundings. Polk lay at Columbus, some twenty miles 
below, w^ith a force, while Bragg was at Bowling Green, 
in easy supporting distance, Jeff Thomson was also 
directing a command in southeastern Missouri. Thus 
the enemy held the Mississippi below the Ohio, and 
were in possession of the important water-ways of the 
Tennessee and the Cumberland. The control of the 
Ohio was also theirs by the seizure of Paducah, toward 
which point they were tending, Polk having already be- 
gun a movement in that direction. 

Britradier-General Grant saw at a o-lance that the 
assumed neutrality of Kentucky was a fraud. It denied 
admission to the Union forces and practically invited the 
Confederate troops to come in and lay firm hold upon 
all the strong and strategic positions in the State before 
the fiction could be dispelled. The enemy had already 
taken advantage of this situation by occupying Columbus, 
Hickman, Bowling Green, and by building Fort Henry 
to control the Tennessee, and Fort Donelson to com- 
mand the Cumberland. They only needed Paducah, 
where the Tennessee empties into the Ohio, to com- 
plete a Strang line from the Mississippi to the Old 
Dominion. They were making their dispositions to 
close upon this place, when the new general reached 
Cairo, looked over the map, and determined to destroy 
the " neutrality " of Kentucky and keep the Ohio open, as 
the beginning of a plan to reclaim all the important navi- 
gable rivers in that section for military purposes. 



142 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

« On the 5th of September he announced his in- 
tentions to General Fremont and to the Kentucky 
Legislature. On the same night, without waiting for 
authority from St, Louis, he started with two regiments. 
a light battery and a convoy of gunboats to seize 
Paducah. It fell into his hands without a fight, and after 
taking possession he issued this proclamation: 

"I have come amoni: vou not as an enemy, but as 
your fellow-cidzen ; not to maltreat or annoy you, but to 
respect and enforce the rights of all loyal citizens. An 
enemy, in rebellion against our common Government, 
has taken possession of and planted its guns on the soil 
of Kentucky, and fired upon you. Columbus and Hick- 
man are in his hands. He is now moving upon your city. 
I am here to defend you against this enemy, to assist the 
authority and sovereignty of your government. I have 
nothing to do with opinions, and shall deal only with 
armed rebellion and its aiders and abettors. You can 
pursue your usual avocations without fear. The strong 
army of the Government is here to protect its friends 
and punish its enemies. Whenever it is manifest that 
you are able to defend yourselves and maintain the au- 
thority of the Government and protect the rights of loyal 
citizens, I shall withdraw the forces under my com- 
mand." 

Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland, was next 
occupied, and Grant had made two important moves in 
the game which he was to close and win at Donelson. 

On his return to Cairo he found waiting him a severe 
reprimand from Fremont for having communicated with 
the Kentucky State authorides, and immediately the 
control of the place he had captured was taken from him 
and General C. F. Smith assigned to its command. But 
General Grant had performed a great service in the 



RETURN TO THE ARMY. 143 

seizure of Paducah, which the major-general over him 
could not destroy with his censure. Its loss was a se- 
vere blow to the Confederates, for it not only broke 
their power in Kentucky, but revealed their real inten- 
tions so clearly that the politicians aided by the milk-and- 
water loyalists no longer dared to apologize for the Con- 
federate fallacy of neutrality. To be sure the act was 
violently denounced as a gross violation of the rights of 
a State, and Grant was for a time on the verge of a seri- 
ous difficulty for his prompt and efficient action. 

It was very soon made manifest, however, that the re- 
sult of his work was to eive to the national forces firm 
control of the Ohio river as well as an even chance for 
the lower Tennessee and Cumberland, More than this, 
it strengthened the hearts and hands of the loyal people 
of this wavering State and made it possible for its Leg- 
ijlature to pass resolutions favorable to the Union cause. 

To be sure. Grant had incurred Fremont's displeas- 
ure, and for the next two months and a half was kept 
in a strictly defensive position, while the Confederates 
tightened their grip on the Mississippi and many other 
points in the valley that follows this great water-way. 
But by his bold movement, which was in those dallying 
days a grave responsibility, he enabled the Unionists of 
Kentucky to take eighty regiments of troops into the 
Union army — more men than Napoleon led to Waterloo. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 

Grant's first battle — His feint toward Columbus — Colonels Oglesby and Logan- 
Moving down the river — The location of the Confederate forces — Moving to the 
attack — Grant's horse killed under him — A demoralized army — Destroying the 
camp — Retreating to the boats — Grant's peril and success — Tells why he fouglit 
his first battle. 

Great events in war often hang upon small hinges. 
Battles are frequently won or lost by an accident. It is not 
always the greatest engagement that brings to the fore 
the strongest qualities of a commander. Sometimes it 
takes more courage, confidence, tact and ability to fight a 
small battle than a big one, and again and again a general's 
future has dated from his actions in what people might call 
a skirmish after the conflict in which he is making his repu- 
tation is fully developed. This is true of Grant. Misplace 
in the late war was fixed when his first battle was over. 
To be sure he had difficulties afterward as he had had 
before, but when the sun went down on the 7th of No- 
vember, 1 861, he had made the first move in a campaign 
that was to last for nearly two years, and finally result 
in his promotion to the control of all the armies mar- 
shalled for the suppression of the rebellion. 

The two months' occupation of the muddy camp at 
Cairo, after the seizure of Paducah. was alike irksome 
to Grant and his men, who were wishing to press for- 
ward to the real business of war. 

The patriotic spirit that impelled the citizen to throw 
down the spade, stop the plough, close the shop, and 
still the anvil to seize the rifle was still alive. Grant 

(144) 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 145 

was not content with Fremont's inactivity, which kept 
him in idleness. More than once did he suggest the 
feasibihty of attempting the capture of Columbus, a 
most important point lying twenty miles below the 
junction of the two rivers. This place was being rap- 
idly converted, practically under his eye, into one of the 
most formidable strongholds on the Mississippi. It was 
favorably situated upon the east shore, threatening any 
move on the part of the Union forces, and, naturally, 
cutting off the navigation of the river. 

To move upon this rapidly strengthening point was 
Grant's earnest desire. A short distance below, on the 
west bank, stood Belmont, where rude works had been 
thrown up under the protection of the guns of Colum- 
bus ; from here Confederate troops and supplies were 
being constantly transported. Every hour's delay seemed 
to Grant time and opportunity wasted. 

On the loth of September, four days after the seizure 
of Paducah, he applied to Fremont, urging an immediate 
move. To this request no response was made, and the 
resolute General, whose ideas of duty forced him to be- 
lieve in active effort, was obliged to sit down and see 
the enemy each day making Columbus stronger until 
they boastingly claimed it to be the "Gibraltar of 
America." Weary weeks dragged along until the newly 
arriving regiments swelled Grant's command to nearly 
twenty thousand undisciplined troops, mostly commanded 
by officers entirely untrained in the practices of war. 

The ist of November brought him relief from the 
unsatisfactory duties of camp life. Fremont ordered 
"demonstrations" to be simultaneously made on both 
sides of the Mississippi. His purpose was for Grant to 
feel the enemy rather than to fight him ; but the subor- 
dinate commander took a very different view of the sit- 



146 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

uation,and, with a good chance to educate his raw troops 
in a fight, he determined to attack the Confederate force 
on the west bank of the Mississippi, which lay under the 
frowning guns of Columbus, a recruiting station and 
depot of supplies for the stronger position. 

It is unnecessary to follow in full detail the dispositions 
Grant made in carrying out Fremont's instructions to 
make a feint against the enemy. Colonel Oglesby, who 
with four reeiments had been sent out to look after a 
force under Jeff Thompson on the St. Francois river in 
Missouri, some fifty miles northwest of Cairo, was de- 
flected toward New ^ladrid, and reinforced '• to keep 
the enemy from throwing over tlie river much more 
force than they now have," as Grant said to General 
Smith. Other detachments were despatched in various 
directions to make a show of attack upon several points 
to divert attention from the real object of the movement. 

Grant then loaded thirty-one hundred and fourteen 
men — only a litde more than three full regiments — on 
transports, and taking two wooden gunboats, the 
" Tyler " and the " Lexington," as convoys, he proceeded 
down the river, while General C. F. Smith was marching 
toward Columbus from Paducah, and several other forces 
under different commanders were making play in the 
direction of various other points. 

A few miles below Cairo a landing was made to 
give Polk, at Columbus, the impression that an attack 
was to be made upon the Confederate "Gibraltar." 
Before this the enemy had been sending troops across 
the river to Belmont, for the purpose of cutting off 
Oglesby. Grant, learning this, pushed across to the 
west bank of the Mississippi to destroy the camp at 
Belmont, disperse the enemy and prevent any attempt 
to harass Oglesby or reinforce Price. 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 



14" 



Early In the morning on the 7th of November, Grant's 
little force left its transports on the Missouri side, three 
miles above the point of attack, and formed for its first 
batde. The two gunboats and a battalion of men 
o-uarded the steamers while the troops marched over 
the low, irregular, swampy ground, just dmbered enough 
to make it difficult for military movements. Beyond 
and around the woods there were broad fields ot 
ripened corn, where the stalks grew so rank as to, at 
times, practically hide the moving men. Grant threw 




ABATIS. 

his whole force forward as skirmishers, with no reserves 
save the battalion left at the boats. 

The point of assault lay beyond one of these corn- 
fields, fully protected by the guns of Columbus, and a 
strong abatis of fallen timber. If the camp was cap- 
tured it could not be held, but towards it the skirmish line 
led by Grant made its way, intent only on its destruction. 
The Confederates met it with a stubborn resistance, and 
both sides stood the clash of arms like veterans. The 
natural advantages were largely in favor of the enemy. 



148 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and many of the Union soldiers had never handled a 
musket until a week before the fight. Yet they were 
steady and courageous. Under the direction of a cool 
head and a skilful commander they surmounted every 
obstacle. Through field and marsh, over ditches and 
fences, they pressed, forcing the Confederates back at 
every step, until the onset became fierce and desperate. 
The order for the charge finally came. They responded 
with a will, rushing over the abatis, capturing guns and 
prisoners, and breaking up the camp in wild confusion. 

The retreating enemy was allowed to go its way to 
find shelter alone the river bank until reinforcements 
came, while the victorious volunteers, officers as well as 
men, became wild with the enthusiasm that victory 
brought. Military restraint lost its grip. Officers made 
patriotic stump speeches to their exultant soldiers, while 
the men shouted and gave themselves up to plundering 
the captured camp. Grant, cool, persistent and level- 
headed, tried to reform his jubilant troops, but they were 
beyond control, and he ordered the place fired. The 
torch to tents, supplies and camp equipage soon re- 
called the men to their duty, and the smoke and flames 
drew the fire of the batteries at Columbus. Reinforce- 
ments were also landing above and below the demoral- 
ized force, which soon fell into line at the unexpected 
danger of capture, and began the retreat toward the 
transports. 

Cheatham, with three regiments of Confederates, dis- 
Duted their return. 

"We are cut off or surrounded" passed from lip 
to lip. 

Grant took in the situation without bctra)ing the 
slightest concern. One of his staff officers, greatly ex- 
cited, rode up with the intelligence that he was com- 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 149 

pletely hedged about with fresh Confederate troops. 
Grant repHed, " If that is so, we must cut our v/ay out as 
we cut our way in." 

The calm conckision of the commander acted hke 
magic upon his subordinates. Order and confidence 
were immediately restored. 

" We whipped them once ; I think we can do it 
again," said Grant, as he ordered a charge which broke 
the Confederate line and opened a road through which 
he hurried his men toward the steamboats. 

More than one hundred wounded were left behind, 
and the detachment remaining to gather them up was 
still in danger of capture. So after the main body of 
his command were safely boarded, he rode back to look 
for those on the field helping their fallen comrades. 

He reached the crest of a hillock, to find himself a 
target for a large Confederate force not fifty yards dis- 
tant. But his simple dress gave no evidence of his 
rank, and from their position in the cornfield they pep- 
pered away at the transports, sending only now and then 
a stray shot in his direction. His observations concluded, 
he turned toward the boats, now under a steady fire, to 
find them just moving off. Spurring his horse, he rode 
rapidly to the edge of the stream amidst a rain of bul- 
lets, and sliding down the slimy bank on the haunches 
of his faithful beast, he jumped the gang-plank and was 
safely among his men. 

The gunboats, which had given all the help they could 
during the hurry of retreat, opened a brisk fire upon the 
enemy with grape and canister as the steamboats drew 
away into the stream, and many of them fell. 

These operations had consumed nearly an entire day, 
for it was five o'clock in the evening before the tired 
Union troops were safely out of reach of the Con- 



150 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

federate guns. Then officers as \vell as men beijan exult- 
ing over the day's work. The loss was not very heavy 
on either side. Grant had one hundred and seventy-five 
prisoners and two pieces of artillery; his loss w^as four 
hundred and eighty, while the Confederates reported six 
hundred and forty killed, wounded and missing. 

The real results cannot, however, be estimated by 
the actual losses on either side. So far as Grant was 
concerned, the war began here. The batde of Belmont 
set the gauge for a grand campaign. It was the first 
trial under fire of the new General and the raw mate- 
rial under him. Other brigadiers of more prominence 
were contented with subordinate places in larger com- 
mands, while this one was conducting independent opera- 
tions in which he had beaten his enemy, destroyed his 
camp, saved his troops when outnumbered, and gen- 
erally showed himself to be thoroughly equipped with 
that homely resourcefulness so necessary in a com- 
mander. The character and action of his troops had 
only brought these elements out in stronger light. 

John McClernand was the only general officer he had 
with him, and John A. Logan w^as one of the colonels 
of this expedition. His regiment was among the very 
foremost in the charge. It captured the enemy's artil- 
lery, and Edward McCook, who was then one of its cap- 
tains, but afterwards became a general, worked diem 
with telling effect against the enemy. In this batde 
Logan set the measure of his future as one of the lore- 
most volunteer officers the war developed. The next 
day he commanded the force that buried the dead and 
arranged for the flag of truce that followed the removal 
of the wound(^d and th(' interment oi those who Icll. 
All the officers save Grant were wholly inexperienced, 
but they had behaved with such gallantry as to earn the 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 151 

warmest commendations from their chief. McClernand- 
had a horse shot under him, and Grant had his first 
mount killed early in the engagement. 

The value of the day's work to the troops was beyond 
estimate ; they had learned more in the ventures of that 
single day's battle than months of preparation in camp 
would have given them. Then Grant's conduct on the 
batde-field, where he had to be everywhere and attend 
to everything on account of the inexperience of his offi- 
cers, had inspired them with a faith that was never 
shaken, and which they at one time or another imparted 
to the soldiers who heard their story of the batde of 
Belmont. 

The first truce occurred the second day after the fight. 
This, on the Confederate side. General Polk commanded. 
He was an Episcopal bishop, but an educated soldier 
and a dienified and austere officer. The meeting between 
Grant and himself was formality itself, but it resulted in 
an exchange of prisoners, of which each side had about 
the same number. When Grant and Polk parted there 
was some unfinished business, and the Confederate gen- 
eral turned and said: 

" General, we will have another truce to-morrow at 
the same hour and about the same place, and I will send 
General Cheatham in command." 

"Very well," was Grant's reply. 

Grant and Cheatham were comrades in the Mexican 
war, and liked each other very much. The next day 
when they met the coldness of the former meedng had 
all disappeared. The two steamers which bore the offi- 
cers representing the two forces met in the river on neu- 
tral ground at the appointed hour, and were securely 
lashed together. When Grant and Cheatham met it 
took but a few minutes to transact the real business of 



152 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the truce, and then General Grant invited his old Mexi- 
can war friend and the officers accompanying him to his 
boat. Here a lunch was spread and the guests were 
invited to partake. This social meeting was prolonged 
for several hours, while Grant and Cheatham discussed 
their army life when both were engaged against a com- 
mon enemy. The captain commanding the Confederate 
steamboat, having an eye out for General Polk's cen- 
sure, finally interrupted the pleasant occasion by calling 
Colonel Porter, Cheatham's adjutant-general, out with 
the suggestion : 

"It's getting late, and Polk will be out of temper un- 
less we cjet back soon." 

Porter returned to the table and j^id to Cheatham : 
"We must go." The Confederate general turned to 
Grant and said: 

" Porter says we must be going." 

"Who's Porter?" said Grant. 

" My adjutant-general," Cheatham responded, as he 
rose to depart. 

General Grant made no further demur, but observing 
that Cheatham wore a brand-new Confederate uni- 
form with the latest style of C. S. A. buttons, he said : 
" Cheatham, I would like to have a memento of this oc- 
casion, and I think Pll take one of those buttons." 

" You are entirely welcome to it," said Cheatham. 

Grant then took a knife which was handed to him, cut 
a button off, and stowed it away in his vest pocket. 
Cheatham then turned to the others and said: "If any 
of the rest of you want a keepsake, help yoiv"self." 

Some of the other officers present embraced the op- 
portunity, and when Cheatham took his leave very few 
buttons were left on his coat. It was late in the evening 
when this pleasant reunion dissolved, and Grant and 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 153 

Cheatham parted, not to meet again until the deadly 
clinch at Shiloh. 

This is not important, but it is interesting as illustrat- 
ing the kindly character of the two men and their ster- 
ling friendship even when arrayed against each other in 
the bitterness of war. 

Long after this incident of the opening days of rebel- 
lion, when great triumphs had made Grant's name a 
household word, he spoke freely of his first engage- 
ment. It was during the siege of Vicksburg. He sat 
with General Robert McFeely and a few personal friends 
in the gloaming of one of those hazy June evenings while 
he was watchinor and waitino^ for its surrender. 

" I had," said he, " a brigade or two of raw troops 
about Cairo. They were camped in the mud around 
that river town, where there was little or no chance to 
drill them. Then I concluded that the more time I spent 
in trying to educate these raw volunteers the more the 
Confederates were improving their men. The enemy 
was better situated than I, so when Fremont gave me a 
chance to make a reconnoissance, I concluded to give my 
troops the experience of a fight for which they were 
anxious. After I loaded them on transports and went 
down the river, if I had returned without a battle they 
would have been not only disappointed, but irritated at 
my failure to give them a chance at the Confederates. 
Those troops enlisted with the expectation of a fight, 
and it would have dampened their ardor very much if 
they had not been gratified. Our first attack was very 
successful, but the victory was too much for the men and 
they fell into disorder. The enemy being reinforced, we 
had hard work to return to our transports ; but the value 
of that battle to those troops was very great. This sin- 
gle day's experience made them better soldiers for their 



154 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

next engagement than six months of drill would have 
done. Then, too, it was valuable to me. It showed that 
where only raw volunteers are to meet raw volunteers 
there is nothing to be gained by delay in extensive 
preparations for battle." 

In this conversation General Grant, while speaking 
very pleasantly of McClellan, gave it as his opinion that 
he had made a serious mistake in spending so much time 
in organization about Washington instead of school- 
ing his soldiers before the enemy. He said the 
Confederates were during this time improving their 
troops just as rapidly, if not more so than he was, with 
the advantage of thoroughly familiar ground. To spend 
months of time in drilling men when troops of only equal 
training were to be met was not time profitably spent. 

The battle of Belmont, although without important 
results that were apparent to the casual observer, served 
to fix Grant's star as a practical warrior to peo- 
ple who were watching for some general who grasped 
the real spirit and purpose of the revolution. Learned 
generals, men thoroughly schooled in the art of war, 
had failed to impress themselves upon the country, as 
experience has demonstrated, because they applied the 
arbitrary science as taught in books to the ever-changing 
demands of actual warfare, of which few of them had any 
practical knowledge. This one took a different turn, and 
rejecting in a great degree the maxims which the school- 
masters teach, applied a reliable common-sense to his 
plans and purposes, which an incident will illustrate: 

The next day, while Grant was treating with the Con- 
federates for an exchange of prisoners, Madison C. John- 
son, a distinguished lawyer of Kentucky living at 
Lexington, was in the Gait 1 louse at Louisville. About 
him were a number of noted Unionists who were refu- 



THE BATTLE OF BELMONT 155 

gees from their homes in different parts of the State. 
To them the conflict meant a great deal They were 
scanning mihtary operations to detect some officer who 
was dealing with the rebelHon as though it were a very 
serious outbreak. To these gentlemen Mr. Johnson 
gave this opinion : 

" That man United States Grant is o-oinof to be a bis: 
General in this war. He is the only officer whom I have 
observed who understands that these Southern people 
are mad and have got to be whipped. He is going to 
turn in and do it." 

Mr. Johnson now writes : "General Grant was very 
freely criticised for bringing on the fight at Belmont. I, 
on the contrary, saw, in that battle, and in the Federal 
General who fought it, a clear indication of the salvation 
of the Union, and of the General who was to achieve it. 
I expressed this opinion on many occasions then. There 
is not a word in the remark that I did not at that early 
period of the war fully believe in with a faith unshaken 
to the end." 



CHAPTER XI. 

A CONFEDERATE VIEW OF BELMONT. 

Polk and Pillow — How they fought their troops at Belmont — The story told by a 
distinguished ejc-Confederate — Grant's masterly tactics — Pushing Pillow to the 
vail — Turning his own guns upon his demoralized troops — Fine artillery prac- 
tice — The retreat — Saving Grant's life — Safe aboard the transports. 

Interesting as is the recital of the Federal story of 
the. battle of Belmont, the Confederate is still more ab- 
sorbing. The two joined will make quite a picture of 
war as it was seen and appreciated at this early stage 
of the conflict. There are several witnesses still living 
who were upon the Southern side, who can give the in- 
cidents of the battle as the Confederates saw it, but of 
all the list none are more competent to speak than 
ex-Governor Porter, of Tennessee, now Assistant-Sec- 
retary of State. He was then General Cheatham's 
adjutant-general, and was by his side during all the war. 
sharing the military honors of his chief in all the terrilic 
battles in which General Cheatham's command bore a 
conspicuous part, and they were many. In the prime 
of life, in tlie very vigor of intellectual power, with a 
bright mind, and a high posidon in business and politics, 
he arises splendidly equipped for the service of recount- 
ing his impressions of Grant's first battle. 

"General Polk was in command of that country in 
which lay Colimibus and Belmont. He kept a regi- 
ment and two troops of cavalry at the camp on the 
Missouri side headed by Colonel Tapi)an, of Arkansas. 
Just about the time that Grant made his landing above 

(150) 



A CONFEDERATE VIEW OF BELMONT. 157 

Belmont, Polk sent Pillow's division across. When 
the Confederate commander received notice of Grant's 
approach he had General Pillow's division under arms 
with orders to join General Albert Sidney Johnston at 
Bowling Green, Kentucky. Instead of making this march 
they were ordered to take a steamer, cross the river and 
oppose the oncoming Union force. About the time 
Grant made his formation on the Missouri side, General 
Pillow had made his. 

"The scouts brought the information of Grant's ap- 
proach, and Polk had, as he supposed, made ample prep- 
arations for his capture when he crossed Pillow's 
division. He was thoroughly informed of his enemy's 
movements, and had no thought but his dispositions 
had been well and carefully made. But Pillow had 
gone into position in an exposed situation upon open 
ground, and without any precaution in case of an at- 
tack. A piece of woods lay between him and the point 
where the Federal forces landed. Pillow was an en- 
thusiastic, confident officer, who paid slight attention 
to the most important measures of defence. He had a 
force strong enough to have enveloped Grant and taken 
his whole army. He had Beltzhoover's artillery and the 
support of the guns on the Columbus side, and General 
Polk had no thought but that he would destroy the 
small Union contingent ; but Grant directed his troops 
with consummate skill. He formed them under the shel- 
ter of the woods and shot down the artillery horses, killed 
the gunners, made a vigorous charge, and Pillow was 
driven from his position, losing his guns and prisoners. 

" Grant then showed his cool judgment and keen 
foresight by directing one of his guns toward the de- 
struction of our steamboats, which were the sole means 
of communication with Columbus, the only point from 



158 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

which reinforcements could reach the force he had de- 
moralized. Pillow was practically at his mercy, and it 
he could have disabled our boats he would have punished 
him as he pleased, and then retired at his leisure. I 
have heard that Grant worked the gun himself in this 
crisis, but, whoever it was, he must have been a trained 
artilleryman, for the first three shots hred went throus^di 
our steamboat from stem to stern, and another came 
within an ace of exploding- its boiler. 

"The first thing we knew in watching the battle on 
the other side was our demoralized men rushing to- 
wards the river, seeking shelter under the bank, while 
Grant had turned the guns he had captured upon their 
former owners, and was shelling them unmercifully, as 
well as fivinor ug an occasional shot. This was Gen- 
eral Polk's first warning that there was any difficulty with 
Pillow. He then ordered Cheatham to cross with one 
brigade to Pillow's assistance, who by this time was 
clamoring for reinforcements ; but Grant's well-directed 
fire upon the steamboat rendered this extremely difficult. 
Cheathani at once saw that to put a regiment on the 
boat would be to lose it under the fire of Grant's artil- 
lery. I le ordered Captain Smith, who commanded one 
of his batteries, to run his pieces down opposite where 
the Federals were w^orking our captured guns, and if 
possible silence them. In the mcantinie Cheatham said 
to Polk that he would take his start" and cross, and that 
as soon as Smith silenced Grant's guns he should send 
reinforcements as rapidly as possible. Cheatham, Major 
McNairy, now of New Orleans, myself, and two couriers, 
jumped on board the boat, Cheatham alone getting his 
horse on. He saw that our animals were fractious under 
fire, and shouted : 

*' ' Never mind the horses ; come o\\ without them. 



A CONFF, DERATE V/EIV OF BELMONT. 159 

There are a hundred on the other side, running over 
the field, that nobody seems to want.' 

"The staff cHmbed on, we pushed out into the river, 
and crossed above where Grant held possession. Cheat- 
ham jumped ashore with his horse, and ordered the de- 
moralized men along the river bank to fall into line. 
The staff meanwhile mounted some of the loose horses. 
Under the influence of a man who seemed to know what 
he was about, and have confidence in himself, the men 
began to form, and in a few moments we had five or 
six hundred men in line. Hearing firing to our right, 
Cheatham advanced them rapidly. Before this time 
Smith's battery on the Kentucky side had silenced 
the captured guns Grant's men were working, and the 
One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee, one of Cheat- 
ham's regiments, and Blythe's Mississippi regiment, 
were seen crossing. Cheatham quickly directed me to 
move forward with the force he had formed at the 
river bank, with instructions to attack anything I could 
find, saying: 

" • I want these troops that are coming on the trans- 
ports, and I will be along with them before anything 
can possibly happen to you.' 

" I pushed out with this command, and at some little 
distance struck the Federals on the flank, and it was 
about as ugly a little field as I ever saw during all the 
war. But too much time had elapsed. The enemy eluded 
us and in time reached their transports. Just about the 
time that Cheatham and his staff got across. Colonel 
Marks, with his regiment of Louisianians, had succeeded 
in making a landing below the battery, and he, too, 
marched out with orders to 2:0 to the firino-. The action 
of Smith's artillery, Marks' appearance, and the move- 
ments we were making to get across, satisfied Grant 



160 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

that reinforcements had come, and he began to with- 
draw immediately. But Marks struck his right Hank, 
as he began to retire, and in swinging around to 
o-et out he exposed his left tlank to the small force 
Cheatham had sent out with me. He was thus struck 
on both flanks. Seeing fresh troops on his right and on 
his left, and the transports being loaded on the Ken- 
tucky side with additional troops, it became little more 
than a race between him and Cheatham as to which 
should reach his transports first. When Cheatham came 
up with the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee 
and Blythe's regiment his instructions from Polk were 
to intercept Grant and then attack the transports. 

"When within about half a mile of the boats he 
came upon a double log-house standing about a hun- 
dred yards from the road. It was then occupied by 
the Federals as a hospital. At the gate he found 
two Union surgeons holding two fine horses, one a 
black and the other a gray. Just at this moment two 
ofticers, one with an overcoat on and the other with his 
overcoat on his arm, came out of the hospital, ran to- 
wards a cornfield, jumped the fence, and disappeared 
among the stalks. When they first came out. twenty or 
thirty men of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Ten- 
nessee, who were in front, cocked their guns to fire at 
the fugitives running through the cornfield. Cheatham 
ordered them not to open on stragglers, as his orders 
were to attack the boats. The next day he met Col- 
onel I-iatch under a flag of truce when each party was 
burying the dead. Colonel Hatch was at that time Gen- 
eral Grant's quartermaster. He asked General Cheat- 
ham if yesterday, when he was talking to the surgeons 
at the gate in front of the hospital, he recollected see- 
ing two men run out, one with his overcoat on and 



A CONFEDERATE VIE IV OF BELMONT. IGl 

the other with his overcoat on his arm. The General 
repHed that he did, and that one of his companies 
drew their guns upon them. Colonel Hatch then told 
General Cheatham that the two men who ran out were 
General Grant and himself. 

"Three days afterwards, General Cheatham and Gen- 
eral Grant met on a steamboat under a flag of truce for 
the exchange of prisoners. General Cheatham asked 
General Grant if what Colonel Hatch had told him in 
ref^ard to his being one of the officers who ran out of 
the hospital was true. General Grant replied that it 
was. General Cheatham has ever held the opinion that 
the two splendid horses the surgeons were holding be- 
longed to General Grant and Colonel Hatch, and that 
they had left them in their rapid flight. The gray horse 
fell to my lot, and I rode him until he was disabled at 
Shiloh. Of course this incident was only of a moment's 
duration, but undoubtedly Grant was saved from cap- 
ture or his life was spared owing to our ignorance of 
who he was. 

"We pressed on towards the steamboats to find our- 
selves unable to do very much injury after we arrived. 
Grant was the last man to get aboard of the boats, and 
as they steamed out into the stream our troops gave 
them a few parting shots, and our part of the batde of 
Belmont was over. The losses on either side were not 
very great, but the moral effect to the Union troops and 
to the General who commanded them was exceedingly 
important. While a good many of our people pro- 
claimed it a victory, because we had driven them off, 
all thoughtful men on our side looked at it very much as 
General Vaughan,one ofourbrigadiers,did, when hesaid: 

"'If this is a victory, I don't want to be in any more 
fights where we whip them this way.' 
L 



162 LIFE OF GENERAL. GRANT. 

" Major Bob Caldwell, of the Tenth Tennessee infantn-, 
one of the most gallant of our soldiers, who was a mem- 
ber of Congress in 1871-72, in describing the action of 
his regiment, commanded by Colonel Russell, and a part 
of Pillow's division, at Belmont, without intending to 
accord any especial credit to General Grant, said to a 
party of us the day after the batde : 

" ' We were ordered to advance and drive the enemy 
from his advantageous position, so we charged up about 
forty yards, and in a second we charged back again !' 

"The emphasis is all his own and was a true account 
of the batde. I have always felt that a history of Bel- 
mont was incomplete without Bob Caldwell's account of 
the charge of the splendid regiment of which he was the 
major. 

" Last fall I related this incident to General Grant at 
the meeting of the Peabody trustees. He said it was 
one of the best things he had heard, and was an apt 
illustration of the disposidon common on both sides in 
the early days of the war never to admit failure or defeat. 

"In the batde of Belmont Grant handled his forces 
with exceptional ability, and showed himself possessed 
of courage, coolness, and plenty of soldierly resources. 
There was no possible excuse for his escape, and the fact 
that he came down there with his raw troops, defeated 
a superior force, destroyed their camp, and retired with 
the bulk of his command, set the standard of his cam- 
paign upon a broad plane, and was of very great value 
to him in the confidence that it gave him in himself and 
in his troops in their first battle." 



CHAPTER XII. 

FROM CAIRO TO FORT HENRY. 

Grant's district enlarged — Restive under Ilallecli's opposition to an advance — 
General Smith's expedition to Mayfield — Suffering of the new troops — The rebel 
fortresses on the Tennessee and Cumberland — " Two guns " enough to take Fort 
Henry — Halleck's assent to attack it obtained — The army on transports — Com- 
modore Foote's gunboats — The attack and the surrender — Grant moving on Fort 
Donelson. 

The field of operations in the West now grew wider 
and wider each day. New resources were demanded 
and extra efforts required of all District Commanders in 
looking after the new points from which the war con- 
stantly blazed afresh. 

Two days after the battle of Belmont, Major-General 
Halleck succeeded General Fremont in command of the 
Department of Missouri, which included Arkansas and 
the State of Kentucky west of the Cumberland river. 

Two men more directly opposite than Grant and 
Halleck it would have been difficult to find. The first 
restive under delay and opposition when advance was 
possible and success probable ; the other hesitating, 
doubting and vacillating in his military purposes. 

Although second in rank among the major-generals 
of the day, Halleck had been a lawyer on the Pacific 
coast. He had received a thorough military education, 
and in the art of defence was doubtless a valuable 
soldier, but, in the rough-and-tumble demands of actual 
conflict which our civil war required, he cut a sorry 
figure. 

He confirmed Grant in his command, enlarged it and 

(16a) 



1G4 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

called it the district of Cairo, but he kept its com- 
mander, who was anxious to make movements against 
the important points garrisoned by the enemy, in a 
strictly defensive position for nearly two months, during 
which time the Confederates were strenfjtheningf their 
well-established line from Columbus on the Mississippi 
to the Bicf Barren in central Kentuckv. 

The natural arteries of all the disputed territory 
north of the cotton States were the Tennessee and 
Cumberland rivers, and at a point where only twelve 
miles of land divides the two, Fort Henry was erected, 
on the Tennessee, and Fort Donelson on the Cumber- 
land. These fortifications commanded the navicfation 
of these two streams and protected the railroad system 
behind them, so vital to the movement of the enemy's 
troops and supplies Upon these important points Grant 
was anxious to move, but he was held to organizing his 
troops until the 6th of January, 1S62, when, by McClel- 
lan's direction, Halleck instructed h*im to send a force to 
Mayfield and Murray in western Kentucky. "To pre- 
vent reinforcements being sent to Buckncr at Bowling 
Green." 

On the loth he changed his mind and telegraphed 
Grant to delay the movement, but the more active com- 
mander had already started the expedition, and it was 
not recalled. 

Two brigades under C. F. Smith, from Paducah, 
as well as the 6,000 men under McClernand, which 
composed the expedition, suffered frightfully from 
the cold, and the onlv result of the movement was 
to aid some operations of General Buell, in the 
DepartuKMU of the Cumberland, and give General 
Smith the opinion that "two guns" would make short 
work of Fort Henry. This judgment he communicated 



FROM CAIRO TO FORT HENRY, 165 

to General Grant, who forwarded it immediately to 
Halleck and then started to St. Louis in person, to 
obtain permission to move on Henry and Donelson 
at once. 

When he made the proposition Halleck rejected it so 
petulantly as to impress him with the idea that his im- 
mediate chief had regarded him as having been guilty 
of a grave offence or of suggesting a serious military 
blunder. 

Neither Ilalleck, nor any of those above him directing 
military movements, ever suggested to Grant the possi- 
bility of taking Forts Henry and Donelson before this 
time. General C. F. Smith, who, by the way, had been 
Commandant at West Point when Grant was a cadet, 
had made the suggestion to him, which he had promptly 
forwarded to Halleck. 

The importance of the Confederate movements taking 
place in Grant's district at this time so impressed him, 
that, notwithstanding: Halleck's rebuff on the 2Sth of 
January he telegraphed to that officer, "With permis- 
sion I will take and hold Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, 
and establish and hold a large camp there." 

The next day he wrote to his immediate superior the 
reasons for the movement, and the advantacres to be 
gained by securing a foothold on the Tennessee. The 
same day that Grant sent his telegram Commodore A. 
H. Foote, commanding the naval forces in his depart- 
ment at this time, also made the sueirestion to Halleck 
that Grant and himself should "have your authority to 
move when necessary." 

On the 30th General Halleck granted the desired 
permission and issued instructions for the movement. 
Seventeen thousand men were put on board transports, 
and flag officer Foote led the way \\\\\\ seven gunboats. 



166 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

On the 4th of February General Grant landed his 
forces at Bailey's Ferry, on the east bank of the Ten- 
nessee, three miles below Fort Henry, and began prepa- 
rations for the assault. 

The weather was bad and the river so swollen as to 
overflow the surrounding country. It was eleven o'clock 
on the 5th before he got his troops all landed, and eleven 
o'clock on the 6th before the march began. The gun- 
boats moved at the same hour and before noon attacked 
the works, the " Cincinnati," Foote's flag-ship, opening 
the battle. 

An hour and a half later the fort surrendered, while 
Grant with his land force was still marching toward 
the enemy's works. General Tilghman with his staff 
and sixty men had been captured, but the bulk of the 
enemy's force had retreated toward Donelson. Grant 
ordered his cavalry to pursue, but they could not over- 
take them. The muddy roads, the swollen streams, and 
other impediments had detained him so that the fort he 
had been so anxious to capture had surrendered to 
Foote, and he telegraphed to Halleck, " Fort Henr)^ is 
ours; the gunboats silenced the batteries before the 
investment was completed. I shall take and destroy 
Fort Donelson on the Sth." 

This was the first information that Halleck had, since 
this movement began, of Grant's intention to capture 
the stronofer fort on the Cumberland. 

While the naval forces were being congratulated by 
Halleck upon their brilliant achievement, Grant was 
pushing his plans for tlie investment of Fort Donelson. 

Flag-officer Foote, in his engagement with the heavy 
guns of Henry, had demonstrated the value of " the 
turtle ironclads " for service on the Western rivers. 
To be sure, the "Essex" of his fleet had been badly 



FROM CAIRO TO FORT HENRY. 167 

damaged by the shots of the heavy artillery, and he had 
lost twenty-nine men killed and wounded, but he had 
done a signal service both in results and portend for the 
future. General Adam Badcau, in his work on Grant, 
pays this fitting tribute to the services rendered by the 
Western flotilla from Fort Henry on : 

"In all the operations at the West, during the first 
two years of the war, the naval forces bore a conspicu- 
ous part. A new species of gunboat was improvised 
for inland navigation, out of the river steamers in use 
before the civil war, and whose occupation had of course 
been interrupted by the breaking out of hostilities. Many 
of these steamers were sheathed with iron, which rendered 
them in a degree impervious to the heaviest Confed- 
erate ardllery. Other vessels, built especially for this ser- 
vice, were speedily added to the Western fleet, all of them 
of the lightest possible draught, as the rise and fall in all 
the Western rivers frequendy leaves only a few feet of 
water in the channels. Thus strangely constructed, and 
armored as completely as a knight of the middle ages, 
manned in general by inland crews, who skilfully piloted 
them through the shallow but familiar streams, and com- 
manded by officGrs of the national navy, these irregular 
flotillas were of great importance. They convoyed 
transports carrying troops and stores ; they drove out 
guerillas from the river banks and made the landing of 
forces practicable ; they covered many important move- 
ments of troops on .shore, which otherwise would have 
been impossible ; they steamed up rivers and penetrated 
regions that fancied themselves secure against invasion ; 
they shared direct assaults on fortified places, and some- 
times secured a victory that could not have been won 
without their aid. The novelty of their appearance 
added to the terror they inspired, and these iron-clad 



IGS LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

monsters, rushing rapidly along the interior, and sweep- 
ing the level shore for miles with their heavy guns, were 
for a long while more dreaded by the Confederates 
even than their achievements warranted." 

The loss of Fort Henry was a serious blow to the Con- 
federates, although its site was badly chosen, and in 
many respects it was not a fortification with which any 
valuable eno-ineer officer miq-ht be satisfied. It was, how- 
ever, an important link in a chain of occupation that was 
ofgreat value, if held. Yet more than three thousand men 
left it without making a stand, and the history of war 
does not record the surrender of a fortified position 
after so brief a resistance as that which preceded the 
fall of Fort Henry. Yet Halleck kept on insisting that 
Grant should sit down there, making it his base for future 
operations, and instructed him to strengthen it with the 
picks and shovels he would send him and the negroes 
he expected him to impress. 

Its surrender caused Buckner to quit Bowling Green, 
where he had been since September, 1861, and to fall 
back to Fort Donelson, endangering the safety of Nash- 
ville and irivinor Grant the chance to strike the force at 
Fort Donelson on the Hank. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 

Fort Donelson — Its position on the Cumberland — The vital point of the Confed- 
erate line — Picks and shovels — Ilalleck to Grant — The march and fight — Suffer- 
ing and endurance of the troops — Grant on duty — Fears a superior force — Foote's 
f^allant fight — Tlie attack on McClernand — Floyd and Pillow make a sally — 
Grant's coolness on the field — Turning defeat into victory — General C. F. Smith's 
splendid charge — The surrender. 

The country was impatient for a victory. Fort Henry 
had not satisfied the eager anticipations of the loyal 
North. The army in the East had been dallying with 
the enemy, and the half political and half social atmos- 
phere which surrounded the movement of troops, espe- 
cially in the East, was disappointing, even disheartening. 
In the West the armies had been idle. Nowhere along 
the theatre of conflict was there anything like sadsfac- 
tory activity, to say nothing of results. The capture of 
Henry was a ray of hope. To be sure, it brushed 
aside the obstructions on the Cumberland and gave the 
Union forces a foothold in the interior of that region 
that it was important to control. But the enemy had 
not made a stand, and the clash of arms had not been 
loud enough to rivet the attention of the country upon 
the operations there in progress. So, important as it 
was, as a link in a chain broken without a fight, it was 
not significant enough, to the ordinary observer, to cause 
general rejoicing. But the capture of Henry was the 
second step taken by a great soldier in a great cam- 
paign, and he moved on without delay to a triumph that 

(169) 



170 LIFE OF GENERAL GRAXT. 

was to stir to the very depths the Northern pulse and 
firmly establish his character as a practical soldier. 

On the west bank of the Cumberland, just north of 
Dover, a typical Southern village, stood Fort Donelson, 
one of the most formidable works of defence erected 
during the war. Its natural advantages were incompar- 
able, and the most had been made of them as a barrier 
to the navigation of the Cumberland and the defence 
of that line behind which lay Nashville. 

A series of steep hills, intercepted by de( p gorges 
and rocky ravines, rose at the point where the fort 
stood. The country was densely wooded, and cut up 
in every direction by concealed gullies and unex- 
pected obstacles to military approach. Two streams, 
flowing into the Cumberland, which was daily rising 
higher, formed the right and left defences of the strongly 
intrenched position, three miles in length. Secondary 
lines and detached works within commanded the outer 
intrenchments and covered the town of Dover. Light 
batteries were posted on commanding heights, as well 
as alone the advanced line. Giant trees had been 
felled in front of the breastworks, and smaller ones 
so chopped that they remained still rooted in the 
ground, their bayonet-like limbs forming a seemingly 
impassable abatis. Ikisding above the surrounding 
heights rose the main fort, from which an unobstructed 
view could be had of the river and adjacent countr)'. 
No approach could be made undiscovered. Fifteen 
heavy guns and two carronades defended its extent 
of a hundred acres. Water batteries, sunken on the 
sides of the hills looking towards the Cumberland, con- 
trolled the river navigation. The fort was garrisoned 
by about 21,000 men, and commanded, successively, by 
Generals Pillow, Floyd and Buckner. Towards this 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 



171 



stronc^hold Grant's conquering spirit strained, and he 
carefully laid his plans for its capture. 

Halleck had no congratulatory messages to waste 
upon Grant. His communication, after the fall of Fort 
Henry, was addressed to Foote, to whom he said: 

" I have this moment received the official report of 
your capture of Fort Henry, and hasten to congratulate 
you and your command for your brilliant success." 







V 






V. 



A VIEW OF THE COUNTRY, SHOWING FORT DONELSON IN THE DISTANCE. 

Grant's despatch announcing his intention to move 
upon and " destroy " Fort Donelson was as coolly inde- 
pendent and as individual as was Halleck's non-recogni- 
tion of his (Grant's) services. It was, indeed, the first 
mention of Donelson between the two commanders, and 
elicited no response. In other words, he ignored Grant's 
determination, and telegraphed orders simply for de- 
fence. He said : 



172 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" If possible, destroy the bridges at Clarksvillc. Shovels 
and picks will be sent you to strengthen Fort Henry. 
The rruns should be transferred so as to resist an attack 
by land. The redan on the south bank should be 
arranged for the same object. Some of the gunboats 
from Fort Holt will be sent up. Reinforcements will 
reach you daily. Hold on to Fort Henry at all hazards. 
Impress slaves, if necessary, to strengthen your position 
as rapidly as possible." 

Grant waited neither for picks nor shovels, nor for 
reinforcements. On the contrary, he did all in his power 
to hasten the return of the gunboats, which had gone 
up the Tennessee, and chafed at their delay. He pressed 
upon Foote any steamers that might be at Cairo, and 
offered, should he be deficient in men, to detach ardllcry 
to serve on the gunboats. Fort Donelson was being 
strengthened hour by hour, and Grant felt that delay 
would only serve to render an assault more difficult. 
Halleck's order to stop by the way, to oversee picks 
and shovels, which then seemed like boy's play to the 
man whose blood had not cooled since the quick con- 
quest of Fort Henry, now seems grimly funny. The 
more serious task before him only ser\'cd to heighten 
his desire to undertake it, and he merely waited for tlie 
return of the gunboats; but it was several days before 
they came. 

Foote's fleet moved by the Ohio and Cumberland on 
the nth, followed by transports carrying six regiments. 
They were to effect a landing below Fort Donelson, to 
establish a base of supplies, and co-operate with the 
force to be moved across by land. 

The same day IMcClemand drew out his troops, 
15,000 strong, from T'ort Henry, with eight light bat- 
teries accompanying. All the regiments marched with- 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 



173 



out tents or baggage, for the roads were almost impas- 
sable, the streams swollen, and the country under 
water. The men carried forty rounds of ammunition in 
their cartridge boxes and three days' rations in their 
haversacks. 

The foremost brigade moved directly forward and 
waited for orders within two miles of Fort Donelson. 
The main body of troops, marching by the Dover road, 
the highway between the two forts, came to a halt at the 
same distance, formincr on the first bricrade. South of 




GRANT'S HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR FORT DONELSON. 

Donelson a force was placed to cut off retreat. By 
noon Grant's army stood in full view of the Confederate 
lines. The true strength of the enemy had not been 
ascertained, and Grant's orders were to be given " on 
the field." 

All was ready for action. Fort Donelson loomed up 
panoplied for assault and defence. The Confederates 
righdy estimated its value, and were bent upon holding 
it. The Union troops, with Grant cool and determined 
at their head, were as sure of their ability to take it. 

At mid-day of the 12th Grant's advance had driven 



174 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in the enemy's pickets, Tlie National line moved for- 
ward by degrees, meeting with little opposition, until the 
fortifications were invested. 

The nature of the ground over which the troops ad- 
vanced offered constant obstacles. It was much cut up, 
and a dense crrowth of scrub-oak hindered the march at 
every step. The Union transports and gun-boats could 
be communicated with by way of a creek, upon which 
the left wing of the army rested. At this point C. H. 
Smith took command, INIcClernand being on the right 
of the National line. Grant's head-quarters were situ- 
ated in a negro hut, in the rear of Smith's division. 

Although all was now in readiness for the assault, 
owing to the non-arrival of the gun-boats no general 
movement was made, although several brisk skir- 
mishes took place where attemps were made to ascer- 
tain the strength of the intrenched enemy. 

The Confederates remained strangely quiet during all 
of Grant's preparations. Not an effort was made to 
molest him, and by the 13th the Union forces occupied 
a line three miles in extent, from which, if no immediate 
advantage was gained, decided results were subse- 
quently achieved. 

The weather had turned suddenly cold, and on the 
evening of the 13th a fierce rain and hail-storm set in. 
The troops were drawn up in line of battle, within range 
of the enemy's guns, their arms in their half-frozen 
hands. Few had blankets, there was a lack of rations, 
and, being unused to field hardships, many suffered in- 
tensely. Indeed, some were frozen to death where they 
stood. The pickets kept up an incessant firing, and the 
cries and orroans of the wounded minted with the rush- 
ing storm. In the gray of the morning Commodore 
Foote appeared coming up the river with his fleet, and 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT DO NELSON. 175 

the reinforcements from Fort Henry were landed, their 
advance havine arrived a short time before. These 
were at once placed in line, Brigadier-General Lew 
Wallace taking command. Grant gave him, with ad- 
ditional force, the centre of the line. 

No despatches having been received from Halleck 
except orders to go on strengthening Fort Henry, 
Grant sent a despatch to his chief dated: "In the field 
near Fort Donelson." This was in regard to a lack of 
ammunition, and was responded to by General Cullum 
from Cairo. Halleck remained mute. All day the 
Confederates continued to drop shot and shell within 
the Union lines, but few casualties occurred. 

By three o'clock in the afternoon the six gun-boats 
(four being iron-clads) attacked the fort. They ran up 
within a distance of 400 yards, a storm of heavy mis- 
siles pouring down upon them from the Confederate 
batteries, mounted at an elevation of thirty feet above 
them. One vessel was perforated with fifty-nine shots. 
For miles the hail of iron could be heard as it struck 
incessandy against the metal armor of the vessels — a 
novel sound in warfare that added to the noisy horrors 
of the conflict. One iron-clad after another succumbed to 
the torrent of shot and shell, and drifted helplessly down 
the river. The entire fleet was soon disabled beyond 
usefulness, and Foote was obliged to withdraw from the 
eneaeement, not, however, until he was wounded and 
his fleet had done some excellent service on the water 
batteries. Owing to this misfortune Grant changed his 
plan of assault on the land side and remained in his 
lines. 

Intense suffering among the troops followed. The 
storm grew^ fiercer and the cold increased every moment. 
The night of the 14th was one never to be forgotten by 



37G LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the raw troops, many of whom were getting their first 
experience of the hardships of war. Grant, ever mind- 
ful of his men, spent a wakeful night, sharing with 
them a great deal of the time the discomforts of bivouac 
on the frozen ground in the storm. Whether or not he 
expected to capture the Confederate stronghold on the 
morrow is easy to conjecture from what followed. After 
looking carefully over the situation he stopped, and on 
a small bit of paper which he drew from his pocket 
wrote, by the dim light of a smouldering" camp fire al- 
most died out, the order to Colonel ]Markland here pro- 
duced in facsimile. With all the pressing demands 
upon him and the terrible discomforts of the hour he 
did not forget that his soldiers would be cheered by re- 
ceiving from home the missives from those behind them, 
who were watching with bated breath and deepening anx- 
iety the result of the important movement on Donelson. 

Commodore Foote, who was wounded and unable to 
leave his vessel, sent for Grant, to hold a conference as 
to his movements. The condition of his fleet called for 
a return to Cairo for repairs. 

As this determination was being reached the Confed- 
erates were holding a council of war at Floyd's head- 
quarters. Its conclusions led to their defeat and entirely 
changed Grant's tactics. All of Floyd's subordinates 
agreed to his plan of attack, which was to throw fully 
half his army under Pillow and Johnson, together with 
Forrest's cavalry, upon Grant's right wing under McCler- 
nand, while Ruckner was to attack Wallace in the centre. 
This fiank and centre attack was a bold plan, for, if suc- 
cessful, it would bring the whole force around Smith as 
a pivot, where its defeat would be only a question of 
time. 

Grant's reinforcements, meantime, were rapidly coming 




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;78 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in, and by the night of the i4lh his force aHiOunted to 
22,000 men — sufficient, in his judgment, to warrant an 
assault in the morning, and, as the result showed, ample 
to meet the new movements decided upon in the Con- 
federate council ot war. 

In the gray of the morning Pillow and Johnson, with 
10,000 men and thirty guns, issued from behind their 
intrenchments and fiercely attacked the right of Grant's 
army. The new troops, under McArthur, received the 
first shock, fought furiously, but were finally obliged to 
retire, having lost heavily. For a time it seemed as 
though the Confederate assault would be completely 
successful, for some of the troops became demoralized 
with the force of the onslauorht and the effect it had 
upon those who first received it. A portion of McCler- 
nand's division made a desperate effort to withstand the 
shock and hold on until Wallace could come to their 
support. But, as regiment after regiment was thrown 
into confusion, it seemed as though that portion of the 
line would be destroyed, and to add to the peril of the 
situation they were getting out of ammunition. The 
enemy had succeeded in taking a battery from them. 
Wallace's men, who had come to the rescue, endeavored 
valiantly to retake the guns. They fought for hours, 
and succeeded at length in checking the Confederate 
advance. But the enemy were slowly and surely ac- 
complishing their purpose to turn Grant's right wing, 
and so open the way for their army, relieving themselves 
from investment. 

As the Confederates dealt blow after blow at Grant's 
right flank the troops, who had been in a measure taken 
by surprise by the unexpected assault of the enemy, were 
almost thrown into confusion, and but for the coolness 
of the brigade commanders and some of the colonels 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT DO NELSON. 179 

of regiments there might have been a panic. Colonel 
John A. Logan, then commanding the Thirty-first Illinois, 
greatly distinguished himself in this crisis, and built 
largely upon the foundation of his military prestige that 
he laid at Belmont. 

At the very height of the disorder, when the whole 
right flank of the army seemed broken in pieces, he not 
only helped to restore confidence among those who had 
lost their heads, but by his inspiring valor practically 
stayed the tide of defeat. Under a terrific fire he changed 
the front of his regiment, with Colonel Ransom support- 
ing, and riding up and down the lines amidst a hail of shot 
and shell gave the troops his confidence by pointing to 
the fleeing men and giving vent to that famous expres- 
sion which has passed into history and verse : " Death, but 
dishonor never ! " His men caught his spirit and held 
the enemy until new dispositions could be made. 

The Confederate attack had been so vigorous, how- 
ever, as to force the extreme right to fall back and form 
a new line. They failed to push their advantage impetu- 
ously, and some Federal reinforcements came up before 
they charged again. The enemy were checked but not 
driven back when Buckner's force swarmed over the 
rifle-pits and rushed to the attack farther down the line. 
Although he handled his troops well they did not seem 
to come up to the needs of the occasion, and, after a bold 
attempt to accomplish his part of the plan, Buckner was 
forced to retire to his trenches. 

At this time Forrest w'.'as threatening Grant's rear with 
his cavalry, and the Union forces seemed beset on every 
side. The men were becoming tired and disheartened. 
Their ammunition had run out, and to increase the con- 
fusion and crowd of stragglers a mounted officer rode 
about shouting at the top of his voice : " We are cut to 



180 LIFE OF GEXERAL GRAXT. 

pieces." At this juncture Logan and other valuable 
officers were wounded. Wallace, however, held his 
ground firmly and formed a new line behind which 
those who had borne the brunt of the fight reformed 
and were supplied with ammunition. Meanwhile the 
Confederates had been delayed in plundering McCler- 
nand's camp, and Pillow had telegraphed to Nashville : 
" On the honor of a soldier the day is ours." When he 
started to attack the new line he did so very vigorously 
but was repulsed, and the day not theirs. 

Grant on the gunboat, whither he had gone to confer 
with Commodore Foote, unaware of the extent of the 
Confederate assault, was informed of the battle now at 
its crisis. Galloping straight into the field, at a point 
where the hardest fighting was in progress, he paused 
to take in the situation. Then, with the fertile mind 
of concentration and perception, he rapidly formed his 
plan. 

He saw that the Confederates were doggedly retiring 
without pursuit; but the Union army was an inexperi- 
enced one, and after loner nicrhts of sufferinQ- and 
deprivation, and days of hard fighting, was much dis- 
ordered. Ammunition had ci'iven out, hundreds had 
fallen, and all sorts of exaggerated reports were bandied 
about among the raw recruits. 

" The Confederates had knapsacks and haversacks. 
Their intention was to stay out for many days fighting," 
said rumor. 

"Are the haversacks filled?" inquired Grant. 

Upon examination they were found to contain tliree 
days' rations. 

"Then," said the commander, "they mean to cut their 
way out; they have no idea of staying here to fight us." 

Looking over his disordered men, he added: "Which- 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 181 

ever force first attacks now will whip, and the Con- 
federates will have to be very quick if they beat us." 

Putting- spurs to his horse Grant rode rapidly towards 
the left. His cool, determined countenance, his unflinch- 
ing bearing was an inspiration to his men as he dashed 
among them. He declared to the uncertain troops on 
every side that the Confederates were in a desperate 
condition, and were trying to cut their way out. With 
this assurance the courage of the entire army rose. 
Demoralized as they had been, scattered all over the 
field, they instantly reformed and pressed forward to the 
front. At Grant's earnest request a couple of gunboats 
ran up the river, and threw a few shells to encourage 
the troops. 

The plan promptly adopted by General Grant in this 
crisis will bear the test of the severest military criticism. 
General Wallace, who had first checked the assault of 
the morninof, was now ordered to advance and retake the 
lost ground, while General C. F. Smith on the left was to 
storm the enemy's works in his front. In other words 
Smith's comparatively fresh men were to attack the 
enemy at the point where they had been most weak- 
ened to reinforce the stroke against McClernand. 

This assault was made under the eye and inspiring 
presence of the commanding general. Smith's assault- 
ing column was formed, and this splendid officer took 
his position to lead the charge. Scrambling through 
the dense, tangled underbrush, which impeded every 
step of the way, the men fell upon the enemy and the 
enemy's line was carried at the point of the bayonet. 
Few charges made in the late war were better planned 
or more valiantly executed than the magnificent assault 
Smith made upon the Confederates that afternoon. 
A. terrific fire was steadily poured upon the assaulting 




(182) 



THE CAPTURE OE EORT DONELSON. 183 

column, as they charged up a steep hill, but as men fell 
others sprang- into place over their bodies, forcing their 
way inside tlie intrenchments. Attacks meanwhile 
were vigorously made by Wallace and McClernand on 
the front. They drove the enemy back into the works, 
and recovered the guns taken from them earlier in the 
dav. The battle rao-ed until niorht-fall. A half hour 
more of daylight would have sufficed to carry the fort. 
All rested on their arms on the frozen ground that night, 
and were impatient for the first dawn of light, which 
they were assured would bring success to their arms. 

Day broke. It was intensely cold. Grant hastened 
his preparations to storm the Confederate intrench- 
ments. The troops pushed forward eagerly, when sud- 
denly from the earthwork a white flag appeared. The 
stronghold was ready to surrender. 

The bearer of the truce brought the proposition from 
Buckner foran "armistice till 12 o'clock, and the appoint- 
ment of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation." 
Floyd and Pillow had deserted him during the night, 
taking off a part of their force, and there was nothing 
else to do but to propose the surrender. Few ex- 
amples of such perfidy and cowardice can be found in 
war as the desertion of General Buckner's two superior 
officers durinor the sieee of Donelson. 

This ringing response, which Grant returned to Buck- 
ner, set the country aflame. It was the first really ener- 
getic war-note that had been heard. It had as broad a 
significance to the Union cause as to the Confederates. 
Within a week it had been caught up on every tongue. 
It became the inspiration of the camp as well as of the 
nation. The enthusiasm by it evoked found fit expres- 
sion in thousands of volunteers who hurried to the front. 
The reply is here reproduced \n facsimile. 




(184) 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT DO NELSON. 185 

"Ungenerous and iinchivalrous," General Duckncr 
characterized these terms in the communication in 
which he declared his readiness to surrcndvi-r at dis- 
cretion. General Grant seems to have attached some 
force to these words of bitter chagrin, for, mounting his 
horse, he rode rapidly to the place appointed for meet- 
ino- the Confederate commander, and assured him that 
the officers would be permitted to retain their side-arms 
and personal baggage, and that the conquered forces 
would be treated with all the respect due them as 
prisoners of war. 

This courtesy was doubtless made broader from the 
fact of the early associations of the two men. They 
were cadets at West Point together and personal friends. 
I think that Buckner belonged to the T. I. O. Society 
at the military academy, of which Grant, Quinby, 
Ingalls, and others were in the magic circle of twelve 
in one, as indicated by the T. I. O. This was a singu- 
lar litde gathering of soldier boys, and there was a 
special bond that bound them to each other. Each one 
wore a ring bearing the mystic letters, and before they 
parted at West Point each one pledged himself never to 
part with this emblem of their regard for each other until 
they were married; then it was to go to their wives. " It 
is doubtful whether any of us kept the compact unless 
it was Grant," said Quinby, in speaking of this phase of 
their cadet life. But whether or not I am right in the 
assumption that Buckner was one of the twelve, true it 
is that their relations had been close at West Point, and 
Grant evidenUy desired to show his old classmate all the 
courtesy that he could consistent with the harsh de- 
mands ^f war. Buckner evidendy hoped to get some 
consideration from his old classmate, but Grant's " I pro- 
pose to move immediately upon your works," soon de- 



186 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

stroyed any faith lie mig-ht have had in the Freemasonry 
of the mihtary school. 

Thib n'l-eetiiTg- between the two officers whom the for- 
tunes of \.'ar had thrown on opposite sides was very 
friendly. They talked over old army matters after ar- 
rano^ing the details of the surrender, and then break- 
fasted too-ether; and, althousfh Buckner had first reoarded 
Grant's terms as severe, they parted that morning with 
a mutual good feeling that only ceased when the suc- 
cessful general died. Buckner even when on the trans- 
port with his captured men to go to his imprisonment in 
the North requested Grant's presence aboard the boat, 
and to all his troops spoke feelingly of his old class- 
mate's magnanimity, and expressed the wish if the 
fortunes of war ever threw prisoners in their hands they 
'would follow his generous example. Sixty-five guns, 
seventeen thousand six hundred small arms, and nearly 
fifteen thousand troops fell into the hands of the victors. 
No account of the Confederate loss other than in captures 
can be given. Grant estimated that no less than twent)- 
five hundred Confederates were killed and wounded 
during the battles. 

Reinforcements had swelled Grant's forces to twenty- 
seven thousand on the morning of the surrender. H(.', 
however, had fewer pieces of artillery than he captured. 
His losses during the siege footed up two thousand and 
forty-one in killed, wounded, and missing. 

In the beLrinninL:- of the sieoe he had a smaller force 
than the enemy whom he had assaulted in an intrenched 
position, and during his conversation with General 
Buckner this fact was considered, Buckner remarking: 
"If I had been in command you would not have peached 
Fort Donelson so easily." Cjrant replied that he lelt 
assured that Pillow would not come out ol his breast- 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 187 

works to fight, and that if Buckner had been in com- 
mand he woiikl not have begun the investment until his 
reinforcements had all come up. His keen judgment 
of Pillow was correct, as subsequent fa'cts demonstrated. 

"The Union flag floats over Fort Donelson " was the 
opening sentence of the despatch of General Cullum, 
Halleck's chief-of-staff, to General McClellan, then com- 
mander-in-chief of the Union armies. The only mention 
of the soldier who had won the victory was contained 
in the last sentence of the same despatch. " We are 
now firing a national salute from Fort Cairo, General 
Grant's late post, in honor of the glorious achieve- 
ment." The news, flashed through the land, fairly in- 
toxicated the loyal millions who had become almost 
despairing under the misadventures of their Eastern 
armies, and all eyes were turned to the silent soldier 
who alone seemed to possess the secret of uninter- 
rupted success. Grant's name was on every lip. How- 
ever his fellow-commanders might estimate his abilities 
and achievements, the voice of public opinion was out- 
spoken in designating him as the author of inspiriting 
successes. 

General Halleck had no congratulations for the 
victor. On the contrary, three days after the fall oi 
the stronghold, he telegraphed to Washington, " Smith, 
by his coolness and bravery, when the battle was against 
us, turned the tide and carried the enemy's Outworks. 
Make him a major-general. You can't get a better one. 
Honor him for his victory, and the whole country will 
applaud." The President and Secretary of War, how- 
ever, won the applause of the nation by nominating 
Grant for promotion the day that the news of his vic- 
tory reached Washington. He was confirmed the 19th 
of February as Major-General of Volunteers the same 



1S8 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



morning that Halleck's despatch, above referred to, was 
received. Grant did not forget his old commander of 
cadet days, but immediately recommended him for pro- 
motion to the grade of major-general, and gave him un- 
limited credit for the brilliant part he had taken in 
winning the victory. 

The victory at Donelson was a most important one. 
In the whole range of warlike operations which followed 
it, none surpassed it in purely military value. Besides 
giving fresh heart to the Northern people, it broke the 
long Confederate line in the middle, which turned both 






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ends, and opened up a wide stretch of country to national 
occupation. The Tennessee and Cumberland were now 
free for the Federal advance. With the fall of Donel- 
son, Nashville fell, and the Southern people were dazed 
as well as alarmed at the onward progress of Grant's 
command. The capital of Tennessee was a most im- 
portant point, and its loss was a serious blow to the 
Confederacy. Columbus on the Mississippi also became 
untenable, and soon afterward was evacuated. The gar- 
rison from the evacuated fort dropped down the river 
and be<ran the erection of new works at Island No. lo. 
Grant's first victory, therefore, opened the Mississippi to 



t 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DO NELSON. 1?« 

the Arkansas line as well as the two smaller waterways so 
important to Federal operations. It was also important 
to Grant and the country in other particulars. It brought 
him into contact with General \V. T. Sherman and Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel James D. McPherson. 

General Sherman, commanding at Paducah, his su- 
perior in rank, had been most energetic and efficient in 
forwarding to Grant the reinforcements which strength- 
ened his army. Besides sending troops Sherman riveted 
Grant's regard by tendering his personal services for the 
batde without making any question of rank with either 
himself or General Smith, both of whom were his juniors 
in date of commission, a most exceptional proffer in 
those days of petty animosities and higgling about 
rank. After the fall of the stronghold Sherman 
congratulated the victor warmly, and expressed hopes 
of his speedy advancement. General Grant replied, 
"I care nothing for promotion so long as our armies 
are successful and no political appointments are made." 
A warm friendship sprang up here between them which 
never wavered, and into which no jealousy ever en- 
tered. 

McPherson had been temporarily attached to Grant's 
staff as his chief engineer officer. His efficiency and 
military capacity strongly impressed Grant, who suc- 
cessively procured his promotion from the staff to gen- 
eral of division and corps, and finally to the command 
of the Army of the Tennessee, which he held when 
killed before Adanta, in 1864. In these two friendships 
Grant gave ample evidence of sagacity in selecting his 
prominent subordinates, which was a salient feature of 
his general fitness for the supreme command. The vic- 
tory of Donelson also gave Grant the confidence of 
Edwin Vi. Stanton, Secretarv of War, an incident which 



190 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was of great importance in future operations west as 
well as east. 

The campaign which we trace to this point in this 
chapter had been no less an education for Grant 
than for his army. It approved his capacity for planning 
military operations and for making those exact combina- 
tions in marching and manoeuvring an army on which 
the success of campaigns depends. It taught him reli- 
ance on his ability to do what needed to be done at all 
times, even to the snatching of victory from apparent 
defeat. It brought him thorough knowledge of and con- 
fidence in the warlike capabilities of volunteer troops, 
out of whom the campaign had forged a weapon as 
keen and trustworthy as a Damascus blade. The 
mutual respect thus generated between commander and 
soldiers was a most important element in his subsequent 
successes. The unstinted applause of his soldiers as 
well as the country was now his. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE CONFEDERATE STORY OF DONELSON. 

The fall of Fort Henry — The situation at Donelson — A Confederate's graphic 
story of the investment — Porter's battery — The fiyht on February Ijlh — Indi- 
vidual instances of gallantry — The assault on the Federal right — Striking the 
Union lines — General Smith's charge — The Confederate council of war — ^Floyd's 
escape — The surrender — Interesting details. 

It was not a great distance from Fort Henry ^o Don- 
elson, and Grant proceeded to the investment of the 
stronger fort as soon as possible. Before Halleck was 
aware of his plans in detail Grant's forces had struck 
the new objective point, and received the surrender of 
more men than had capitulated to a commander in this 
•country since Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. 
Captain John W. Morton, who afterwards became chief 
of artillery upon the staff of Forrest, the Confederate 
cavalry leader, and is remembered as one of the most 
distinguished soldiers of his rank on either side during 
the late war, thus presents the narrative of Fort Donel- 
son as it appeared to the eyes of himself and his com- 
rades : 

In the fall of 1861 Porter's Tennessee battery was at 
Bowling Green, Ky., attached to General Buckner's di- 
vision of infantry. Thomas K. Porter, its captain, had 
been a lieutenant in the United States navy, and at the 
breaking out of the war was only twenty-five years old. 
His skill and training had made the battery famous. 
His conspicuous courage, shining intelligence and ex- 
perience made him a valuable exemplar for all the 

(191) 



192 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

under-officers, of whom I was one, and for the men he 
commanded. When the order to move to Fort Donel- 
son came, the desire " to meet the enemy " was enthusi- 
astic, even hilarious. This desire in after years grew 
rather out of a sense of duty than one of pleasure. 

On February 6th, 1862, General Bushrod R. Johnson 
commanded Fort Donelson. Fort Henry fell on that 
day, and on the 9th of the same month General Pillow 
succeeded Johnson. He says that at the time of his 
arrival " deep gloom was hanging over the command, 
and the troops were demoralized by the circumstances 
attending the fall of Fort Henry and the manner of re- 
tiring fj^om that place." General Pillow announced his 
accession to the command in the following order: 

Special Orders No. i. 
Head-quariers, Dover, Tenn., February <)fh, 1862. 
Brigadier-General Pillow assumes command of the forces at this 
place. He relies with confidence upon the courage and fidelity of the 
brave officers and men under his command to maintain the post. 
Drive back the ruthless invader from our soil and again raise the Con-" 
federate flag over Fort Henry. He expects every man to do his duty. 
With God's help we will accomplish our purpose. Our battle-cry, 
" Liberty or Death." 
By order of Brigadier-General Pillow, 

Gus. A. Henry, Jr., Assistant Adjutant- General, 

Day and night General Pillow pushed the work on the 
fortifications, and made all preparations, with what re- 
sources were at his disposal, to meet the expected as- 
sault from General Grant's forces. The map herewith 
presented was made by Major Vl. F. Foster, after a care- 
ful examination of the entire line of works and the water- 
batteries. He drew it in 1S78, after having gone over 
the ground with ex-Governor James D. Porter and my- 
self. Major Foster was formerly chief engineer officer 
of Stuart's Confederate corps, and a thoroughly compe- 



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194 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



tent man for such service. Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. 
Gilmer, an able engineer officer of the old army, then 
attached to the staff of Albert Sidney Johnston, located 
the space to be defended. 

The fort was almost quadrangular in shape, divided 
into two parts by Indian creek, which was filled with an 
almost impassable backwater, greatly retarding commu- 
nication between Dover and the fort. Another valley 
westward of Dover also offered similar hindrance to 

the movement of troops 
from one position to 
another. The ground 
between these valleys 
was a rugged, hilly up- 
land, covered with a 
dense undergrowth, ex- 
tending in a general di- 
rection perpendicular to 
the Cumberland river, 
which swept by on the 
north. The line of in- 
trenchments commenc- 
ed on a ridge south of 
Dover near the river, 
and, running over the 
CAPTAIN JOHN w. MORTON. ruo'c^^ed hills west- 

wardly for some two miles, deflected northward at the 
point held by Porter's battery, and thence northwest to 
Hickman's creek, a further distance of half a mile. 

General Pillow described the works as consisting of 
" rille-pits and abatis for infantry, detached on the right, 
but continuous on the left, with defences for light artil- 
lery." The " defences for light artillery " were very 
meagre. Porter, Graves and Maney had their men 




CONFEDERATE STORY OF DONELSON. 195 

continuously exposed when in action. The timber had 
been felled south of the fort, which, with the ravines and 
valleys flooded by backwater, greatly embarrassed the 
manoeuvres of the Confederates within their advanced 
works. 

The water batteries and the fort proper were con- 
structed on the bluff at the mouth of Hickman's creek, 
and mounted with one ten-inch columbiad (one hundred 
and twenty-eight pounder), one rifled thirty-two pounder, 
eight thirty-two pounder smooth-bore, and three thirty- 
two-pounder carronades; total, thirteen guns — a feeble 
armament to confront the victorious and exultant flo- 
tilla, composed of six gunboats, four of which were 
heavily-plated iron-clads, with a combined armament of 
sixty-six guns. Any one of these boats was considered 
more than a match for the Confederate batteries. 

The morning of the 12th of February found General 
Buckner in command of the right, and General Pillow 
of the left, of the Confederate army, both officers giving 
their personal supervision to the construction of the 
works and the assignment of the troops. Captain Por- 
ter's Tennessee battery occupied the advanced salient, 
sweeping the road leading to the main Fort Henry road, 
flanking the intrenchments both to the right and left — 
a very exposed position, as the great number of casual- 
ties proved. 

As the Federal forces arrived in our front they moved 
with rapid but continuous steps, and wound their coils 
completely around die Confederate works without re- 
sistance. That day gave a little artillery pracdce by the 
opposing batteries, and some sharp and deadly firing by 
Breg's well-trained sharpshooters. No material ad- 
vantage was gained by either side, except delay of work 
on the Confederate trenches. 



196 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

On the night of the 1 2th the air was balmy and spring- 
Hke, the stars twinkled with unusual brightness, the moon 
beamed with tranquil light upon the sleeping hosts, and 
not a sound was heard save a chance shot from some 
stray picket — the seemingly peaceful prelude to the 
deadly strife so soon to follow. 

The dawn of the 13th was ushered in by the boom of 
the Federal artillery and the sharp crack of the skir- 
mishers' rifles, which hastily brought the boys in gray to 
their feet, provoking a spirited artillery fire all along the 
front. There was a deal of coquetting along the lines 
by the Federals. As early as eight o'clock the intrepid 
Cook sallied forth against the right centre with his Iowa 
soldiers, but found the music and its accompaniment 
from Graves' and Porter's batteries too warm for com- 
fort, and soon retired behind a neighboring hill. 

The enemy's artillery made an assault against the 
centre of the Confederate left wing, which General 
Pillow says was promptly responded to by Captain 
Green's battery. P^or over two hours a spirited artillery 
fire was kept up along the entire line, when, about 
eleven o'clock, McClernand made a dashing assault on 
the salient occupied by IManey's battery and supported 
by Heiman's brigade. General McClernand says: "I 
deemed the opportunity favorable for storming redan 
No. 2 (Maney's position). Accordingly, Colonel W. R. 
Morrison, now a distinguished Congressman, was 
ordered to advance his brigade — the Seventeenth and 
Forty-ninth Illinois, joined by the Forty-eighth. Colonel 
Haynie, a gallant and intelligent officer, being the senior, 
assumed the conunand. Passing down the declivity, the 
assailants, preceded by skirmishers, moved rapidly up 
the steep hill, on the crest of which was the object of 
attack. Although the small timber had been felled and 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DO NELSON. 197 

interwoven with the sharpened points of brushwood ex- 
tending outward, forming an almost impenetrable abatis, 
they made their way, under a fast-increasing fire from 
the enemy's intrenchments, to a cleared space in front of 
them. 

At this point a heavy cross-fire of artillery and small 
arms was poured upon the assailants, yet for an hour 
they maintained the unequal contest, advancing close to 
the intrenchments, and firing with deliberation and 
effect whenever an enemy appeared. The Forty-fifth, 
Colonel Smith, moved forward under a heavy fire, and, 
taking position in line, the assault was renewed. " The 
brave Illinoisans were evidently badly worsted," as 
General McClernand says. At this cridcal moment if 
the enemy had been diverted by an attack on the left, 
and also from the river by the gunboats, it is probable 
the redan would have been taken. 

General Lew Wallace says: "The battery was the 
common target. Maney's gunners, in relief against the 
sky, were shot down in quick succession." His first lieu- 
tenant (Burns) was one of the first to suffer. His 
second lieutenant (Massie) was mortally wounded. 
Maney himself was hit; still he stayed and his guns con- 
tinued their punishment, and still the raw Federal troops 
clung to their purpose. With marvellous audacity they 
pushed through the abatis, and reached a point within 
forty yards of our rifle-pits. It actually looked as if the 
prize was theirs, and the yell of victory was rising in 
their throats. 

"Suddenly the long line of yellow breastworks before 
them, covering Heiman's five regiments, crackled and 
turned into flame. The forlorn hope stopped — stag- 
gered — braced up again — shot blindly through the 
smoke of the new enemy, secure in his shelter. Thus 



198 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

for fifteen minutes the Illinoisans stood figflitinor. The 
time is given on the testimony of the leader himself. 
Morrison was knocked out of his saddle by a musket 
ball and disabled. Then the men went down the hill. 
At its foot they rallied round their flags, and renewed 
the assault. Pushed down again, they rallied, and a 
third time climbed to the enem\-. This time the batter)' 
set fire to the dry leaves on the ground, and the heat 
and smoke became stifling. It was not possible for 
brave men to endure more. Slowly, sullenly, frequently 
pausing to return a shot, they went back for the last 
time, and in going their ears and souls were riven with 
the shrieks of their wounded comrades, w^hom the flames 
crept down upon and smothered and charred where they 
lay.- 

Colonel John C. Brown says : " About eleven o'clock 
on Thursday I discovered the enemy moving in consid- 
erable force upon Colonel Heiman's centre, and before 
the column came within range of Colonel Heiman's, and 
indeed before it could be seen from his position, I 
directed Captain Graves to open fire from all his guns, 
which he did with such spirit and fatal precision that in 
less than fifteen minutes the whole column stacreered 
and took shelter, in confusion and disorder, beyond the 
summit of the hill still farther to our left, when Colonel 
Heiman opened his fire upon it, and drove it beyond 
his and m\- guns. Later in tin,' ilay the enemy planted 
one section of a battery on a hill almost in front of 
Captain Graves and opened an enfilading fire upon the 
left of ni\- line, and at the same time a cross-fire upon 
Colonel Heiman. Captain Graves, handling his favorite 
rifle-piece with the same fearless coolness that charac- 
terized his conduct durin^if the entire week, in less than 
ten minutes knocked one of the enemy's guns from its 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DONELSON. 199 

carrlag-e, and almost at the same moment the gallant 
Porter disabled and silenced the other, while the sup- 
porting infantry retreated precipitately before the storm 
of crrape and canister poured into their ranks from both 
batteries. 

"The brunt of this attack was borne by the Tenth, 
Fifty-third and Forty-eighth Tennessee regiments and 
Maney's battery. Colonel Ouarles' Forty-second Ten- 
nessee was brought up in the nick of time, and shared 
in the losses and glory of the repulse. Maney and his 
men bore themselves with distinguished gallantry, and 
handled their pieces, greatly exposed, with the most 
commendable skill and courage." 

While these assaults and sorties were being conducted 
on the centre and left of the Confederate works. General 
C. F. Smith was not altocrether idle on the Federal left. 
He made three distinct charges upon Hanson's position, 
which were pushed, as Jordan says, " with more spirit 
than judgment," and were readily repulsed by Hanson's 
and Palmer's regiments and Porter's battery. 

Meanwhile the gunboat Carondelet, from a pro- 
tected position, opened a fierce cannonade upon the 
water batteries, throwing a number of shot and shell 
into the Confederate works until, disabled by a well- 
directed shot from Captain Ross' sixty-eight-pounder 
rifle-gun, she dropped down stream. No damage was 
done the fort. One of the last shots from the Caron- 
delet, however, dismounted a thirty-tvvo-pounder rifle- 
gun, instantly killing Captain Joseph Dixon, a gallant 
young officer and efficient engineer, who had rendered 
much valuable service in the construction of the water 
batteries. 

The weather thus far had been unusually mild and 
pleasant for the season, but on Thursday afternoon a 



200 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

driving- storm of sleet and snow set in with a keen icy 
north wind, which made the cold so excessive that sol- 
diers of both sides suffered intensely. The half-cl^d 
Confederates were only kept from freezing by tlie con- 
tinued work throughout the night, strengthening the 
intrcnchments. No one knows the terrible discomforts 
and horrible sufferincr of that fearful nieht so well as the 
hungry and exhausted soldiers of both armies. 

The morning of the 14th came with two inches of 
snow and a continued chilling north wind. The lines 
were all readjusted. No assault was made, though a 
rambling fire was kept up all along the line throughout 
the day. 

An incident occurred at the time which showed the 
coolness of General Buckner. The general. Captain 
Porter and the writer were seated on some blankets on 
the declivity just in rear of Porter's battery, when a 
shell from the enemy's gun exploded near by. A frag- 
ment knocked off General Buckner's cap. Picking it 
up and shaking off the snow he replaced it on his head, 
with as much indifference as if the cause of its removal 
had been a puff of wind. He did not even change his 
tone of voice or the subject of conversation. 

At 3 p. M. the exultant Foote steamed up defiantly, 
fully expecting to crush out the Confederate batteries in 
a few minutes, and pass on to further conquests; but in 
this he was doomed to disappointment. The four iron- 
clads and the two gunboats bore direcdy down upon the 
water batteries, firing with great rapidity and accuracy. 

Captain Jacob Culbertson, after the death of Captain 
Dixon, commanded the water batteries with efficient 
assistants. General Pillow ordered the batteries to hold 
their fire until the boats approached w^ithin 1,000 yards. 
The gunboats opened at one and a half miles distance, 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DONELSON. 201 

and advanced to within 300 yards of the batteries. At 
a given signal the heavy guns opened with stunning 
effect, and were soon followed by the lighter guns. The 
shot and shell from the iron-clads tore up the earth- 
works, which were promptly replaced by the ar- 
tillerists. 

The furious cannonade of the fleet, while terrific, was 
harmless, though each moment it seemed that it must 
sweep away gunners and batteries together. Soldiers 
and generals alike looked with apprehension for the 
catastrophe, when their guns should be silenced and the 
fleet, steaming by, take them in reverse; still the fascina- 
tion of the scene riveted to the spot as spectators 
hundreds who witnessed it with breathless suspense and 
anxiety. But the elevation of the batteries and the 
courage and coolness of their grunners overcame all the 
Federal advantage in number and weight of guns. The 
bolts of their two heavy guns went crashing through 
iron and massive timbers with resistless force, and scat- 
tered slaughter and destruction through the fleet. 

Hoppin, in his "Life of Commodore Foote," says: 
" The Louisville was disabled by a shot which cut away 
her rudder chains, making her totally unmanageable, so 
that she drifted with the current out of action. Very soon 
the St. Louis was disabled by a shot through her pilot 
house, rendering her steering Impossible, so that she 
also floated down the river. The other two armored 
vessels were terribly struck, and a rifled cannon on the 
Carondelet burst, so that these two could not longer 
sustain the action, and, after fighting for more than an 
hour, the lltde fleet was forced to withdraw. The St. 
Louis was struck fifty-nine times, the Louisville thirty- 
six times, the Carondelet twenty-six, the Pittsburg twenty 
— the four vessels receiving no less than i4ow^ounds. 



202 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The fleet, gathering itself together and rendering mutual 
help to its disabled members, proceeded to Cairo to 
repair damages." 

Commodore Foote says : " I have commanded at the 
taking of six forts and have been in several naval 
engagements, but was never under so severe a fire 
before." It is reported that the doughty commodore 
wept like a child when the order to withdraw was 
given. 

The loss to the Federals was fifty-four killed and 
wounded. The Confederate batteries were not materi- 
ally injured, and not a man in them hurt. When our 
troops saw the floating monsters receding, the heartiest 
cheers and shouts went up, which seemed to electrity 
and inspire all with the brightest hopes of ultimate 
success. 

There were many shining examples of personal 
heroism among the officers and men of the water bat- 
teries. Conspicuous among these we might mention 
the darine act of Serjeant Robert Cobb, who, in the face 
of the fleet, belching forth its storm of shell and grape 
at point-blank range, mounted his piece to extract a 
priming wire that had lodged in the vent through the 
inexperience of the artillerist, who had seen but two 
davs' service at the oruns. This irallant young gunner 
was afterwards distinguished as the captain of the 
famous Cobb's battery, and late chief of artillery of 
Breckinridge's division. 

Lieutenant George S. Martin attracted the particular 
attention of the commanding general by the judgment 
and energy displayed in handling his gun. The gun- 
wadding having become exhausted, he tore up his coat 
and used it for wadding, which enabled him to continue 
the fire until the iron-clads were repulsed. This promis- 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DO NELSON. 203 

ing young; officer was murdered by bushwhackers on 
Sand Mountain in Alabama, wliile en route to join Mor- 
ton's battery with Forrest's cavalry in Mississippi. 

It was but natural, with the enemy repulsed at every 
point along- the outer works, the hitherto invincible iron- 
clads worsted and driven back, that General Pillow 
should send congratulatory despatches to General 
Johnston of the " utmost confidence of success," and 
state that "the men are in fine spirits." General John- 
ston sent the following despatch : " If you lose the fort, 
bring your troops to Nashville if possible." 

As early as the morning of the 14th General Buckner 
says: "At a council of general officers it was decided 
unanimously, in view of the arrival of heavy reinforce- 
ments of the enemy below, to make an immediate attack 
upon the right in order to open our communications 
with Charlotte, in the direction of Nashville. I made 
the necessary dispositions preparatory to executing the 
movement, but early in the afternoon the order was 
countermanded by General Floyd, who had been ordered 
to Donelson by General Johnston with general com- 
mand, at the instance, as I afterwards learned, of Gen- 
eral Pillow, who, after drawing out his troops for the at- 
tack, thought it too late for the attempt." 

This statement was unquestionably correct. Though 
no allusion was ever made to it by either Floyd or Pil- 
low, the matter was referred to by Colonel W. E. Bald- 
win, commanding brigade. Colonel Forrest, and Major 
William M. Brown, Twentieth Mississippi, in their official 
reports. General Floyd called a council of his general 
officers on the night of the 14th, when it was unanimously 
decided to attack the enemy's right at daylight. General 
Buckner says: "This movement had become impera- 
tively necessary in consequence of the vastly superior 



204 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and constantly Increasing force of the enemy, who had 
already completely invested our position." 

General Pillow says : " It was determined unanimously 
to o-ive the enemy battle next day at daybreak, so as to 
cut open a route of exit for our troops to the interior of 
the country, and thus save our army," 

Proper dispositions were made by General Pillow to 
force the attack on the extreme left with Baldwin's brigade 
and Brigradier-General Bushrod R. Johnson's division. 
Johnson was directed to move out of the trenches 
with his whole force, except Heiman's brigade, which 
was to occupy the ditches. Head's Thirtieth Tennessee, 
of this brigade, was instructed to occupy Buckner's line 
of works, and move to aid Pillow on the left. General 
Buckner says he was "ordered to make an attack on the 
rio-ht of the enemy's centre, and if successful to cover 
the retreat of the whole army, after which my division 
was to act as the rear guard." 

Late that night the brigade commanders repaired to 
General Pillow's head-quarters, and received specific in- 
structions. Prompdy at four o'clock Saturday morning 
General Pillow repaired to Baldwin's position on the left, 
and found that officer with his brigade in line ready to 
inaugurate the attack. Owing to delay by some of the 
reoiments the first ofun was not fired until six o'clock, 
when Baldwin moved his brigade, supported by Forrest 
on the left flank, upon McClernand's right, which was 
in batde-line awaiting the onset. McCausland, Sinion- 
ton and Wharton moved out successively, and were soon 
stoudy engaged with McArthur's, Oglesby's and \V. H. L. 
Wallace's brigades, sustained by Schwartz's. McAllister's 
and Dresser's batteries, combining an artillery strength 
of sixteen guns well manned and in position of their own 
selection. 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DO NELSON. 205 

The fight was hotly contested. The Confederates, 
pressing forward with great energy and vigor, were 
only able to force McClernand back to the centre of 
the Confederate left wing along the Wyn's Ferry road 
by twelve o'clock. Up to this time there had been 
many acts of superior valor by brigades, regiments and 
companies ; and instances of individual hardihood and 
courage were numerous in every command. The con- 
testants on this part of the field were pretty evenly 
matched, with the advantage possibly of a few hundred 
in favor of the Federals. The idea that one Confederate 
could whip five Yankees was soon dispelled. The stout, 
rugged Western men, " kindred in blood, equally emulous 
of glory, and, like the Roman twins, jealous of the birth- 
right of pre-eminence of valor, saw nothing in any foe 
to quell the hope of final triumph." 

The Twenty-sixth Tennessee and the Twentieth Missis- 
sippi each took a section of artillery. Colonel John M. 
Lillard was wounded early in the action, but remained 
at the head of his regiment during the whole day. 
Colonel Baldwin says : " It is difficult to determine which 
deserves the most commendation, the regiment or its 
commander." Simonton's brigade with undaunted effort 
captured the first hill, which was strongly defended, and 
aided materially in taking four guns of Schwartz's hard- 
fought battery, though with the loss of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Clouorh, of the Seventh Texas, and a number of 
valuable officers and men. The Vircrinians and Kentuck- 
ians vied with each other in daring deeds, and the Missis- 
sippi troops were ever ready to move to the front when 
ordered by their superiors. The dashing Forrest even 
thus early in the war showed of what stuff he was made. 
He was ever on the alert, and when the infantry was 
hotly engaged he passed around the enemy's right and 



206 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

swept down upon McClernand's right and rear with such 
force as to double \V. H. L. Wallace up, and cause the 
abandonment of six pieces of artillery, which were 
secured, with many horses and a number of prisoners. 

Buckner was not idle, although he says: "In view 
of the heavy duty which I expected my division to 
underofo in coveringr the retreat of the armv, I thouo-ht 
it unadvisable to attempt an assault at this time in my 
front until the enemy's batteries were to some extent 
crippled, and their supports shaken by the fire of my 
artillery." Graves and a section of Porter's batteries took 
position on the Wyn's Ferry road early, and engaged 
the Federal artiller)^ in a brisk artillery-duel, which 
greatly aided General Bushrod Johnson's advance. 
Brown's Tennessee brigade, led in person by Colonel 
John C. Brown, moved to the attack upon Aurora Hollow, 
the valley to the left of Heiman's position, and with the 
combined and concentrated fire of Maney's, Graves' and 
Porter's batteries upon the enemy's battery, which was 
soon silenced, induced a rapid retreat of the Federals, 
leaving a section of their artillery. 

While this was going on, Roger Hanson, the hard 
hitter, charged with his Second Kentucky through an 
open field, and under a destructive fire, without firing a 
gun, upon a superior force of the enemy. While 
Hanson engaged the infantry, Forrest, who was always 
on hand at the right time, charged the two pieces of 
artillery, killing the gunners and recapturing some Con- 
federate prisoners. General Buckner says: "While 
this movement was going on I conducted one piece of 
artillery under Captain Graves along the Wyn's Ferry 
road, supported by the Fourteenth Mississippi, and sent 
orders to the residue of Graves' and to Porter's and 
Jackson's batteries, and Farquharson's Tennessee regi- 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DO NELSON. 207 

ment, to follow the movement with rapidity. I also sent 
to direct Hanson's regiment to rejoin me." 

General Buckner pressing on, overtook the retreating 
enemy in a strong position beyond the point where it 
crosses the valley. Brown's brigade, coming up with 
Graves' piece, soon dislodged them, driving them to the 
right of the Wyn's Ferry road, leaving it entirely open. 
In this position General Buckner says : " I awaited the 
arrival of my artillery and reserves, either to continue 
the pursuit of the enemy or to defend the position I now 
held, in order that the army might pass out on the forge 
road, which was now completely covered by the position 
occupied by my division." 

At this point of the fight General Lew Wallace writes : 
"Just then General Grant rode up to where General 
McClernand and I were in conversation. He was then 
informed of the mishap to the First division, and that 
the road to Charlotte was open to the enemy. In his 
ordinary quiet voice he said, addressing himself to both 
officers : ' Gendemen, the position on the right must be 
retaken,' and with that he turned and galloped off" 
General Grant in returning from a visit to Commodore 
Foote, in passing General C. F. Smith, ordered him to 
hold himself in readiness to attack the Confederate right ; 
and, when he learned of McClernand's discomfiture on 
riding to the right wing, he not only ordered General C. 
F. Smidi to advance upon the Confederate works but 
sent word to Commodore Foote of the demoralized con- 
dition of his army, and urged an immediate demonstra- 
tion with the gunboats. He said: "I must order a 
charge to save appearances." Two of the gunboats did 
run up and at long-range throw a few shells. 

In the meantime General Pillow had ordered Forrest, 
with his men, to collect the captured artillery and small 



208 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

arms, and remove the wounded from the field. Some 
five thousand stands of small arms and two hundred 
prisoners had been captured. Cannonading had ceased, 
and profound quiet pervaded the batde-field. Pillow, 
finding himself at Hindman's position, heard of (or saw) 
preparations by General C. F. Smith for an assault on 
the Confederate right; but whether he understood this 
to be the purpose, or construed the movements as 
signs of a flight, was left uncertain by his language at 
the time. He ordered the regiments which had been en- 
o-an-ed to return to the trenches, and instructed Buckner 
to hasten to defend the imperilled point. 

Buckner, not recognizing him as a superior authorized 
to change the plan of batde, or the propriety of such a 
change, refused to obey; and, after receiving reiterated 
orders, started to find Floyd, who at that moment joined 
him. He urged upon Floyd the necessity of carrying 
out the original plan of evacuation. Floyd assented to 
this view, and told Buckner to stand fast until he could 
see Pillow. He then rode back and saw Pillow, and, 
hearing his arguments, yielded to them. Floyd simply 
says that he found the movement so nearly executed 
that it was necessary to complete it. Accordingly 
Buckner was recalled. 

In the meantime Pillow's right brigades were retiring 
to their places in the trenches, under orders from the 
commander. Porter's battery, with other troops of 
Buckner's command, had been halted by General Pillow 
in the Wyn's Ferry road, where it crosses the trenches. 
The writer was present when General Buckner returned 
from the front, and. meeting General Pillow, expressed 
great surprise at the change in the order of batde. 
General Pillow, with some impatience, repeated his order 
to General Buckner to reoccupy his original position o^* 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DO NELSON. 209 

the right. We have again an illustration of the want of 
concert of action and harmony in council which brought 
about the loss of the army at Fort Donelson. 

Ten fresh regiments — over three thousand men — had 
not fired a musket. It was now one o'clock. The Fed- 
eral right was doubled back ; the Wyn's Ferry road 
was cleared ; and, as Colonel William Preston Johnston, 
in his " Life of Albert Sidney Johnston," says, " it only 
remained for the Confederates to do one of two things. 
The first was to. seize the golden moment, and, adhering 
to the original purpose and plan of the sortie, move off 
rapidly by the route laid open by such strenuous efforts 
and so much bloodshed ; the other depended upon the 
inspiration of a master mind equal to the effort of grasp- 
ing every element of the combat, and which should com- 
plete the partial victory, by the utter rout and destruc- 
tion of the enemy. While one or the other alternative 
seems to have been the only possible safe solution, the 
Confederate commander tried neither. A fatal middle 
policy was suddenly, but dubiously, adopted, but not 
carried out. The fate which seemed always to arrest 
the best endeavors of the Confederate arms and render 
fruidess their victories interposed at this juncture." 

The assault on Hanson's works by General Smith 
did not occur until near four o'clock, and it will be re- 
membered that Head's regiment alone was assigned to 
protect more than half a mile of hastily constructed and 
imperfect rifle-pits, with no artillery support. Hanson, 
under General Pillow's direct orders, was the first of 
Buckner's division to reach the assaulted line, but only 
to see Lauman's Iowa and Indiana brigade safely estab- 
lished in his own works. Turner, with three companies 
of Head's regiment, held the works with great despera- 
tion, but, overpowered by the six stout regiments led in 
o 



210 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

person by General Smith, he fell back to the crest of a 
ridge some one hundred yards in the rear, where he was 
reinforced by Hanson. 

Brown had in the meantime partially reoccupied his 
original position to the left of Hanson, and by the rapid 
and galling cross-fire of the Third and Eighteenth Ten- 
nessee regiments, aided by the well-directed guns of 
Porter's battery, saved the line and prevented the water- 
batteries from falling into the hands of the Federals that 
evening. This new line was reinforced by the arrival of 
Barclay's, Sugg's, Quarles' and the balance of Head's 
regiments, after the forward movement of the enemy 
\vas checked, but not before the fortunes of the day 
were decided. One section of Graves* battery took po- 
sition at the intersection of the new with the old line, 
and was, as usual, most conspicuous for its effective 
service. 

The writer's section of Porter's battery, which had 
been delayed in reaching its original position, was 
brought rapidly into action to the left of Graves, under 
a heavy fire ; his horses were shot down, and his guns 
were run into place by hand. Until dark the desperate 
conflict raged. Lieutenant Hutchison, of Porter's bat- 
tery, was severely shot through the neck ; Lieutenant 
Culbertson, of the same battery, was hurt; and Captain 
Thomas K. Porter, of whom it was said that he "always 
directed his guns at the right time and to the right 
place," was disabled by a severe and dangerous wound, 
and was borne from the field. 

Captain Porter's marked coolness and dash, and the 
efficient and intellicrent manner in which he handled his 
guns, elicited the unbounded admiration of all who saw 
him ; and when he was beino- carried bleeding from the 
field he said to me, "Don't let them have the guns, 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DO NELSON. 211 

Morton," and I replied, " Not while I have one man 
left," little mindful that my apprehensions would be so 
nearly carried out. 

My cannoneers had been greatly reduced by death, 
wounds and frost-bites, until at the close of this engage- 
ment I had only three men left at one gun; one of these 
was wounded, and was left where he fell, we being un- 
able to remove him at the moment, Pat Kine, acting 
No. I, who was always at his post, threw himself in 
front of me, saying, "Lieutenant ! Lieutenant ! get lower 
down the hill — they will kill you ; " and actually em- 
braced me, as if to shield me from the enemy's bullets. 
I said, "No, Pat; let's give them one more round," He 
seized his rammer-staff, and while in the act of driving 
the charge home was shot through the heart, and 
dropped under his gun. How noble and grandly self- 
sacrificing! — so truly characteristic of the Irish character. 

Night soon closed this bloody combat. Porter's bat- 
tery, from its active participation in the four days' con- 
flict, its advanced and exposed position, lost eight men 
killed outright and twenty-five wounded out of forty- 
eight officers, non-commissioned officers and men act- 
ively engaged at the guns. The balance of the com- 
pany were — drivers, teamsters and artificers — with the 
horses protected in a ravine at some distance from the 
battery. 

After recovering from his wound Captain Porter was 
assigned as chief of artillery to Buckner, and afterwards 
to Cleburne, and was wounded at " Hoover's Gap." He 
subsequently entered the Confederate navy as executive 
officer of the P^lorida. After the war he commanded a 
California merchant steamer, and died in 1S69. Colonel 
John C. Brown, commanding brigade, was always in the 
thickest of the fight. Lieutenant-Colonel W. P. Moore, 



212 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Thirty second Tennessee regiment, was killed while 
aiding his no less worthy commander, Colonel Ed, C. 
Cook, in cheerinof his men to the charofe, as his briorade 
commander so well expresses it. 

The orallant Lieutenant-Colonel F. M. Gordon, com- 
manding the Third Tennessee, was wounded early in 
the action, when the regiment was ably led by Major N. 
F. Cheairs. Captain D. F. Wade, a brave soldier and 
polished gentleman, of this regiment, was severely 
wounded — shot entirely through the body. Colonel 
Joseph B. Palmer, commanding the Eighteenth Tennes- 
see, rendered valuable assistance. The Fourteenth Mis- 
sissippi regiment, ?^Iajor \V. L. Doss commanding, was 
also attached to Brown's brigade, and assigned es- 
pecially to the support of Porter's battery on the right. 
Captain F. M. Rogers, of this regiment, and sixteen 
others, were killed, and eighty-five wounded — which 
shows it was where some of the fio^htinof was efoinQf on. 

General C. F. Smith had succeeded in carrsinof the 
advanced line of works on the rio-ht, which General 
Buckner considered "the key to the situation." General 
Jordan, in his "Life of Forrest," calls the position cap- 
tured "the mere narrow foothold seized on the extreme 
right of the trenches." Indeed, the line lost did not ex- 
tend over seven hundred yards in length, and was com- 
manded by the stronger ridge, upon which the Confed- 
erates established their line, connecting it with the 
strong field-works, where so much time and labor had 
been expended to protect the water-batteries. 

The Federals had now no orreat advantaofe in securinqr 

o o o 

Hanson's intrcnchnients : the advantacre was still with 
the Confederates, from their more elevated position. 
However, the want of efiiciency, from physical prostra- 
tion and loss by casualties of battle, was apparent, 
especially in the artillery. 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DONELSON. 21B 

Another council was called Saturday night, at which 
it was decided to move out of the works, if not rein- 
vested. I was instructed to spike my guns, which was 
done, and be ready to move out with the men at twelve 
o'clock at night. Rumors having reached the generals 
that the Federals had reoccupied their positions, scouts 
were sent out, who reported they saw no Federals — only 
fires in the woods. Forrest did not believe the rein- 
vestment had taken place, and obtaining permission he 
despatched two trusty scouts, Adam R. Johnson and S. 
H. Martin, who reported that they could find no Fed- 
erals on the Wyn's Ferry road, except the wounded and 
a few stragglers. 

General Forrest positively asserted, from his own per- 
sonal reconnoissance, that the whole force could be safely 
withdrawn by the road reported as obstructed. The 
reports of the generals, however, concurred in the belief 
that there was a complete reinvestment of their lines, 
and, acting upon this belief, the question of surrender was 
discussed. 

The decision to surrender having been made, the 
question arose as to who should make it. Generals 
Floyd and Pillow both declared they would die before 
they would surrender. General Buckner remarked 
that "a capitulation would be as bitter to me as it 
could be to any one, but I regard it as a necessity 
of our position, and I cannot reconcile it with my sense 
of duty to separate my fortunes from those of my com- 
mand." General Floyd said : 

" General Buckner, if I place you in command, will 
you allow me to leave with such portions of my division 
as can be transported in two small steamers which are 
expected at daylight? " 

General Buckner replied : " Yes, provided you do 
so before the enemy act upon my communications." 



214 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General Floyd said: "General Pillow, I turn over 
the command." 

General Pillow said: "I pass it," and Buckner as- 
sumed command, sent for a bugle to sound a parley, for 
pen, ink and paper, and opened negotiations for surren- 
der. 

It was believed that there were but two ways by 
which it was possible for the army to retire. If they 
went by the Wyn's Ferry road, they would be obstructed 
by the enemy. If by the lower or Waverly Charlotte 
road, they would have to wade through water waist- 
deep. This the medical director stated would be death 
to more than half the command on account of the 
severity of the weather and physical prostration. Gen- 
eral Buckner believed his men were so worn out by 
exposure, by watching and fatigue, and so reduced in 
numbers and demoralized, that he could not hold his 
position half an hour against the assault which he was 
satisfied would be made next morning at daylight; that 
his ammunition was nearly expended, and the men, for 
several days without regular or sufficient food, were not 
in condition to undertake such a battle and march as 
would be involved by a successful sortie. He did not 
think it justifiable to sacrifice three-fourths of the troops 
to save one-fourth. General Buckner was sustained in 
this view by Generals Floyd, B. K. Johnson, Colonels 
Brown, Palmer, Hanson, McCausland and others. 

General Pillow did not regard the position as so des- 
perate, and favored the effort to withdraw, but yielded 
to a surrender not to include himself Forrest, hearing 
of the decision, declared he would not surrender. He 
proposed that the bones of liis men should bleach on 
the surrounding hills, rather than they should be carried 
north and cooped up in open prison-pens during mid- 



cox FEDERATE STORY OF DONELSON. 215 

■winter; and prepared at once to collect his troops for an 
immediate movement. At four o'clock Sunday morn- 
ing he was ready, and, followed by five hundred officers 
and men, he took the road by way of Cumberland City. 
When about three-quarters of a mile out, his advance 
scouts reported the enemy. In company with his 
brother. Lieutenant Jeffrey Forrest, who subsequently 
commanded a brigade, and was killed in a charge near 
Okalona, Mississippi, they caudously moved forward, 
when the supposed batde-line proved to be only a picket 
fence. General Forrest believes that this picket fence 
brought about the surrender. 

Forrest and his brother moved on up the ri-dge for 
three-quarters of a mile, and found the blankets left by 
his men when going into action. Riding farther along, 
they came upon fires, around which Federal wounded 
were gathered, and from all he could learn only a few 
scattering scouts from both sides had been among them 
that night. Forrest, returning to his command, took up 
the line of march for Nashville, via Cumberland City, 
which he reached in due time without accident. General 
Floyd took his three Virginia regiments, and escaped on 
the steamboats. General Pillow accompanying him. 

Badeau, in his " Life of Grant," says : " Sixty-five 
guns, 17,600 small arms and nearly 15,000 troops fell 
into the han'ds of the victors." Colonel William Preston 
Johnston, in his "Life of Albert Sidney Johnston," 
clearly points to this as an error when he says : " Even 
including the six guns and 5,000' small arms recaptured 
and the thirteen guns in the fort, the ardllery would fall 
a good deal short of his estimate." In fact, the Con- 
federate field-artillery numbered forty-three guns, includ- 
ing Stankrewviz' three pieces in the fort ; with thirteen 
heavy guns in the water-batteries these would make the 
total artillery fifty-six. 



21G LIFE OF GEXERAL GRANT. 

Badeau further says : " Rations were issued at Cairo 
to 14,623 prisoners ; " to which Colonel Johnston replies: 
" Ver}' likely this was the quarter-master's return, but if 
so it was based on muster-rolls, not men. The actual 
number of captures did not exceed 7,000 or 8,000." 

This seems to be nearest the truth when you consider 
that Floyd carried off on the steamers at least 1,000 of 
his own command, besides a large number detached 
from other commands. No one was refused passage. 
Forrest had a following of at least 500 of his own 
cavalry, besides 200 of other commands, artillery and 
wagon horses. The teamsters and drivers of Porter's 
battery, numbering forty-two men, escaped witli Forrest. 
The ferry-boats were plied all night, which enabled 
several hundred more to escape across the river. 

Discipline was relaxed and pillage of the Confederate 
camps seemed to be the order of the day, and in this 
confused and demoralized state of affairs, a number 
walked out of the works and made their way through 
the country. The escape of General Bushrod R. John- 
son was an example of this sort. General Johnson thus 
explains his escape : 

" I formed no purpose or plan to escape. In the after- 
noon towards sunset on the iSth of February (two days 
and a half after the surrender) I walked out with a Con- 
federate officer, and took my course toward 'the ritle-pits 
on the hill formerly occupied by Colonel Heiman, and, 
finding no sentinels to obstruct me, I passed on, and was 
soon be\ond the Federal encampment. I had taken no 
part in the surrender, had received no orders or instruc- 
tions from the T^ederal authorities, had not been recog- 
nized or even been seen by any of the general officers, 
had given no parole and made no promises." 

From the best information from all sources the Con- 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DONELSON. 217 

federate killed amounted to 325, wounded, 1,097; total, 

1,442. 

Rehirn of Casualties in the Federal Anny. From " War 
of the Rebellion Official Records^ Series II., Vol. VII., 
page 167. 



Commands. 


Killed. 


Wounded. 


Captured or 
Missing. 






Officers. 

7 

I 


Enlisted 
Men. 


Officers. 


Enlisted 
Men. 


Officers. 


Enlisted 
Men. 


U) 

< 




297 
138 


53 
22 
12 


1,005 

797 
219 


3 


1 80 
23 
18 


1,552 
987 
293 




3d Division— Lew. Wallace 






478 


87 




3 




2,832 











Commodore Foote reported to the Secretary of the 
Navy ten killed and forty-four wounded in his flotilla. 

Brigadier-General John Buchanan Floyd was born in 
Virginia in 1805; served in Congress in 1847-49; 
governor of Virginia, 1850-53 ; secretary of war under 
President Buchanan, 1857. He used his power in trans- 
ferring arms and munitions of war to Southern arsenals, 
and generally in preparing for the impending conflict 
between the North and the South. He was indicted 
before the grand-jury of the District of Columbia as 
being privy to the withdrawal of a large amount of bonds 
from the Department of the Interior, but having left 
Washinofton was never brouo-ht to trial. This was doubt- 
less his reason for declinin^j to surrender at Fort Donel- 
son. 

He was a zealous sympathizer with the secession move- 
ment, and resigned his secretaryship and was appointed 
brigadier-general of the Confederate army. He com- 
manded in West Virginia in 1861, but was unsuccessful, 
and was severely criticised. While he seemed to antici- 
pate General Johnston's orders to repair with his com- 
mand to Fort Doiielson, he evidently did not relish the 



218 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

idea of being cooped up behind intrenchments. He 
was bold and impetuous, and liad the reputation of strong 
force of character, but seemed to lose his head at Donel- 
son. He displayed no firmness and, though nominally in 
command, vacillated between Pillow and Buckner, and 
suffered each to influence and sway him as he came 
within their presence. He was brave and gallant, but a 
failure as a commander when thrown upon his own re- 
sources. His conduct at Donclson was severely criti- 
cised by the abandoned soldiers who were sent to prison. 
The action of the Conft^deratc authorities in practically 
retiring him from the army was a severe blow to his rest- 
less and ambitious spirit, and this it was thought 
hastened his death, which occurred about one year 
afterwards. 

General Pillow was a man of unbounded ambition and 
conspicuous vanity; his great energy and courage and 
undoubted loyalty to the Confederate cause went a great 
way toward palliating this defect in his character. There 
had been an unfortunate antagonism between Buckner 
and Pillow, which led to downright obstinacy and an in- 
excusable conflict of action that impaired the efficiency 
and paralyzed to a great extent the gallant efforts of the 
troops at Donelson. The imprisoned soldiers never 
ceased to censure General Pillow for not availing him- 
self of the opportunity to lead them out on Saturday, 
when, after so much hard fighting and bloodshed, every- 
thing was so auspicious. General Pillow was also re- 
tired from active command, but his indomitable energy 
and ardent devotion to die cause kept him in the service, 
although suffering great humiliation from imaginary in- 
justice by the Confederate authorities. We cannot say, 
however, that he had no cause for complaint. His great 
personal sacrifices, shining military qualities, courage 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF DO NELSON. 219 

and great energy of character demanded better treat- 
ment than he received from the governm.ent. He died 
in 1879. 

The prevailing idea seemed, witli General Buckncr, to 
be to hold Donelson until General Albert Sidney Johnston 
could reach Nashville, and then evacuate with all possi- 
ble haste. General Buckner's high character and supe- 
rior military training and experience would have com- 
manded due deference and respect from any one else 
at the supreme moment, possibly, than his senior in com- 
mand, General Pillow, who could have profited by his 
good judgment and advice in the evacuation of tlie works 
on Saturday when the question of the surrender was 
discussed and each of his seniors expressed a willingness 
to desert the troops. When he declared that to capitu- 
late, would be as bitter to him as to any one else, but 
that he deemed it his duty to stay and share the fortunes 
of his men, he doubly endeared himself to every sol- 
dier remaining. After being exchanged in August, 
1862, he commanded a division in Hardee's corps, 
Bragg's Tennessee army, and as major-general he gal- 
lantly led the Third grand division in the engagement 
at Murfreesboro, Chicamauga, and upon other hotly 
contested fields, and finally surrendered with General 
Kirby Smith, May 26th, 1865. 

Colonels Brown, Hanson, Palmer, Baldwin and Heiman 
were promoted to be brigadier-generals for their sol- 
dierly conduct at Donelson, and Colonel N. B, Forrest 
attracted the attention of the army by his courage, dash 
and genius as a soldier, and when the last gun was fired, 
in 1865, he had attained the rank of lieutenant-general. 
It was the writer's privilege and pleasure after the ex- 
change in 1862, though not out of his teens, to be ordered 
to Forrest to share all the hardships and brilliant sue- 



220 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

cesses of this wonderful cavalry leader, and at the close 
was chief of artillery of his corps. 

It is clear, from the humiliations to which both Gen- 
erals Floyd and Pillow were subjected after the capitu- 
lation of Donelson, that the Confederate government 
regarded them as largely responsible for the disaster. 
They had not yet learned that in war red-tape is some- 
times the cause of a military catastrophe. They would 
not subordinate pride to duty, and when the climax 
which their stubbornness had hastened came on, they 
had not the moral courage to assume the responsibility 
of the surrender. It is possible that, if the army had 
been first operated in accordance with Buckner's coun- 
sel, many more of the men might have been saved from 
capture. The indignation of the South at the capitula- 
tion was very great. The joint catastrophe of Henry 
and Donelson was the first very serious set-back which 
the Confederacy received. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE TRICE OF SUCCESS. 



Effect of the first victorj'— Halleck's fault-finding — Complaints to Washington au- 
thorities Resumption of "bad habits" insinuated — Rumor made a basis of 

complaints — Demoralization charged — "An enemy between you and me" — 
Grant's noble patience — His request to be relieved refused — Halleck's halting 
explanation— Grant's magnanimous waiving of personal feeling. 

After the conquest of Donelson came the arduous 
and often deHcate duties incident to governing the con- 
quered territory. In his proclamation to Kentuckians 
when his army seized Paducah he had declared him- 
self and forces the defenders of the State. Kentucky 
had not seceded, and the Confederates were the in- 
vaders. Once across the line into Tennessee the condi- 
tions were reversed. Martial law was immediately pro- 
claimed, and all causes were ordered to be brought for 
adjudication before such military tribunals as might be 
established. The disloyal citizens, and in that part of 
Tennessee there was scarcely any Union sentiment 
worth mentioning, were thus made to feel the strong 
arm of the military power. 

War, too, was a novel thing, and victory especially had 
dallied so coyly with the Union armies that the people, 
panting for the substantial fruits of their self-sacrifice, 
fairly lost their heads when Donelson was taken. 
Civilians crowded the steamers plying up the river to 
the fallen fortress. Keenly anxious to congratulate the 
victors and relieve the sick and wounded, they were 
stubbornly bent on carrying away trophies as souvenirs 
of the terrible struggle. Many had brothers, uncles, 

(221) 



222 LIFE OF GEXERAL GRANT. 

cousins In the army, and it was difficult to convince the 
minds of the noncombatants that their relatives were 
no longer civilians but soldiers and subject to all the 
rigors of military discipline. The general commanding 
became the fruitful theme of the gossip and idle slander 
of those whose relic-hunting ended in disappointnient, 
but who still had the means of communicatinir with his 
immediate superior, whose despatches showed that he 
was anything but friendly to the only general who seemed 
to appreciate the value of the cruel but truthful maxim, 
"War means fight, and fight means kill." 

Almost before the gruns of Donelson had o-rown cold 
the limits of Grant's district were enlarged but not 
specified, and his command designated as the Depart- 
ment of West Tennessee. Without wasting time in re- 
joicing over victory he set about looking for new con- 
quests. As long as he remained at Donelson the busy- 
bodies were not too troublesome, but necessit}' for 
communicating with Nashville arose. General Smith, 
whose command he had pushed forward to Clarks- 
ville, forty miles up the Cumberland, immediately after 
the victory, had received orders from General Buell to 
report to him at Nashville, Grant wished to learn 
whether orders from their common superior had trans- 
ferred Smith's command to Buell's jurisdiction. A day 
before starting he had telegraphed his superior, through 
General Cullum, chief of staff, that he would start unless 
he received counter orders that evening. None came, 
and he pushed forward to the capital of Tennessee, which 
Buell's forces had already occupied. After his departure 
the busybodies caught General Halleck's ear, and found 
a receptive listener. They told highly colored romances 
of robbery and the destruction of captured property by 
civilians and soldiers, and of the demoralization ot the 



THE PRICE OP SUCCESS. 223 

conqnerincif army incident to relaxation of discipline 
after the victory. Telegraphic communications being at 
that time very uncertain, and even mails liable to 
detention, General Halleck had received only very 
meagre reports from the Army of the Tennessee. He 
fired a volley of complaining orders, only one or two of 
which reached Grant. There was just enough founda- 
tion for the reports of marauding to give them color. 

General Grant had found it necessary to issue orders 
to his command repressive of such acts. He had been 
compelled to take measures to prevent the visiting 
citizens from carrying away as trophies articles of value 
in the eyes of the owners. To effect this latter purpose 
he had a company of troops specially detailed to search 
boats about leaving, and to retake all captured property 
found. Although a subject of much annoyance, General 
Grant had not thought the exigency demanded any 
severe measures, especially as many of the offenders 
had come to the front as representatives of the sanitary 
commission. It, however, was made one of the pretexts 
for a series of covert attacks, which nearly effected their 
apparent purpose to drive him out of the army at the 
very time when the eyes of the loyal people of the 
country were turned toward him as the most hopeful 
defender of the nation. 

A correspondence, the official record of which shows 
many violations of that canon of military ethics which 
entitles every soldier to be fully informed of any charges 
against him, was begun in the following telegram, dated 
IMarch 4th, 1862, from General Halleck, then in com- 
mand at St. Louis, to General McClellan, then com- 
mander-in-chief at Washington: "A rumor has just 
reached me that, since the taking of Fort Donelson, 
General Grant has resumed his former bad habits. If 



224 LIFE OF GENERAL GRAXT. 

SO it will account for his neglect of my often repeated 
orders. I do not deem it advisable to arrest him at 
present, but have placed General C. F. Smith in com- 
mand of the Tennessee. I think Smith will restore order 
and discipline." 

This telegram betrays a most inexcusable want of 
common courtesy, or absolute malice toward the man 
about whom it was written. Men occupying such an 
exalted posidon as Halleck had no right to make rumor 
the basis of insinuations against his subordinate, and sub- 
sequent events demonstrate the most remarkable shiit- 
ing to and fro in his evident attempt to injure the man 
who had made manifest his ability to deal with the real 
exigj'encies of war. 

General Halleck in fact telegraphed General Grant, 
under date of March 4th, an order to place General 
Smith in charge of the troops then being organized for 
an expedition along the Tennessee river, and himself to 
remain at Fort Henry. "Why do you not obey my 
orders to report strength and position of your com- 
mand?" the despatch concluded. In it no mention was 
made of the serious insinuations against his personal 
conduct which he had sent to the commander of the 
army. 

General Grant replied by letter from Fort Donelson, 
under date of March 5th. announcing that he had 
turned over the command to General Smith in accord- 
ance with orders. " I had prepared a different plan," he 
wrote, " intending General Smith to go to Paris and 
Humboldt, while I would command the expedition upon 
Eastport, Corinth and Jackson in person. ... I am not 
aware of having disobeyed any orders from head- 
quarters — certainly never intended such a thing. My re- 
ports have been made to General Cullum, chief of staff, 



THE PRICE OF SUCCESS. 225 

and it may be that many of them were not deemed of 
sufficient importance to forward more than a telegraphic 
synopsis of. In conclusion I will say that you may rely 
upon my carrying out your instructions in every par- 
ticular." 

This letter is indorsed as received by General Halleck 
March 9th. 

General Grant rem.oved his head-quarters to Fort 
Henry promptly, and telegraphed to General Smith, at 
Clarksville, the same day: 

" By direction just received from head-quarters of de- 
partment, you are to take command of the expedition 
which I had designed commanding in person. You will 
repair to Fort Henry with as litde delay as possible." 

General Smith arrived at Fort Henry on the same 
day, and General Grant fully instructed him as to the 
expedidon which had been planned against Eastport and 
Corinth. The written instructions concluded : 

"Allow me to congratulate you on your richly deserved 
promotion, and to assure you that no one can feel more 
pleasure than myself." 

The contrast between the magnanimity of Grant wel- 
coming his subordinate to the command and Halleck's 
persistent efforts to belitde Grant's achievements is 
striking. There had always been cordial co-operation 
between Grant and Smith, and the former had always 
shown ereat deference to the officer whom he remem- 
bered so well as his chief at West Point. 

Serious charofes containino- the threat of further cir- 
cumscribing the usefulness of the victor of Donelson 
were based on no better evidence than that contained 
in an anonymous letter. Halleck's ears appear to have 
been open to such approaches. 

Up to this time Grant was in total darkness as to the 



226 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

origin or cause of the misunderstanding at head-quarters, 
of which his subsequent despatches showed that he felt 
himself the victim. 

On the day following, before Grant's reply, above 
quoted, had reached him, General Halleck sent him the 
followinor : 

" I enclose herewith a copy of a letter addressed to 
Judge Davis, President of the Western Investigating 
Commission. Judge Davis says the writer is a man of 
integrity and perfectly reliable. The want of order and 
discipline, and the numerous irregularities in your com- 
mand, since the capture of Fort Donelson, are matters 
of general notoriety, and have attracted the serious at- 
tention of the authorities at Washin^rton. Unless these 
things are corrected, I am directed to relieve you of the 
command." 

The enclosed letter referred to complaints of the 
alleged appropriation of public stores and supplies cap- 
tured at Fort Donelson. 

On the same March 6th Halleck telegraphed Grant 
as follows : 

'* General McClellan directs that you report to me 
daily the number and positions of the forces under your 
command. Your neglect of repeated orders to report 
the strength of your command has created great dissat- 
isfaction, and seriously interfered with military plans. 
Your going to Nashville without authority, and when 
your presence with your troops was of the utmost im- 
portance, was a matter of very serious complaint at 
Washinofton ; so much so that I was advised to arrest 
you on your return." 

This was the first hint to General Grant that his trip 
to Nashville was the subject of official censure. General 
Halleck impHes that the complaints at that step and 



THE PRICE OF SUCCESS. 'Ill 

Other alleg"ed irreo^ularities originated In Washington. 
The "War Official Records," however, contain the 
following despatch from Halleck to McClellan, dated 
March 3d : 

** I have had no communication with General Grant 
for more than a week. He left his command without 
my authority and went to Nashville. His army seems 
to be as much demoralized by the victory of Fort Don- 
elson as was that of the Potomac by the defeat of Bull 
Run. It is hard to censure a successful general imme- 
diately after a victory, but I think he richly deserves it. 
I can get no returns, no reports, no information of any 
kind from him. Satisfied with his victory, he sits down 
and enjoys it, without any regard for the future. C. F. 
Smith is almost the only officer equal to the emer- 
gency." 

General McClellan's reply to this missive was dated 
March 3d, 6 p. m. It reads: 

"The future success of our cause demands that pro- 
ceedings such as Grant's should at once be checked. 
Generals must observe discipline as well as private sol- 
diers. Do not hesitate to arrest him at once, if the cood 
of the service requires it, and place C, F. Smith in com- 
mand. You are at liberty to regard this as a positive 
order, if it will smooth your way." 

To this despatch was added : "Approved : Edwin M. 
Stanton, Secretary of War." But Mr. Stanton frequendy 
said that he never knew of any authority given Halleck 
to arrest General Grant. 

General McClellan evidently deemed Halleck's criti- 
cisms of Grant's conduct worthy of transmission to the 
President, for on March loth Adjutant-General Lorenzo 
Thomas telegraphed General Halleck : 

"It has been reported that soon after the batde of 



228 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Fort Donelson General Grant left his command without 
leave. By direction of the President, the Secretary of 
War desires you to ascertain whether General Grant 
left his command at any time without proper authority, 
and if so, for how Iohl,^ ; wliether he has made to you 
proper reports and returns of his force; whether he has 
committed any acts which were unauthorized or not in 
accordance with military subordination or propriet}'; and 
if so, what ? " 

It is evident from this despatch that INIr. Lincoln was 
not willing to accept anonymous letters and camp rumors 
as against General Grant's achievements. He intended 
that Halleck should become responsible for his insinua- 
tions or send him the evidence. 

Thus Grant in the full flush of the first important suc- 
cess which had crowned the Union armies, while spend- 
ing his days and nights in hastening the organization of 
his forces for new conquests, was made the target for 
misrepresentations, of the gravamen of which he had 
not been informed, but which he felt were seriously un- 
dermining his usefulness. So far as Halleck's despatches 
read, the faults imputed were having gone to Nashville 
without notifying the department, and having neglected 
to make proper returns of the position and condition of 
his forces. His reply to these, under date of March 7th, 
from Fort Henr)- to Halleck at St. Louis, was temperate 
and dignified. It reads : 

" Your despatch of yesterday just received. I did all 
I could to get you returns of the strength of my com- 
mand. Every move I made was reported daily to your 
chief of staff, who must have failed to keep you properly 
posted. I have done my very best to obey orders and 
to carry out the interests of the service. If my course 
is not satisfactorv remove me at once. I do not wish to 



THE PRICE OF SUCCESS. 229 

impede in any way the success of our arms. I have 
averao-ed writinor more than once a day since leaving 
Cairo, to keep you informed of my position, and it is no 
fault of mine if you have not received my letters. My 
o-oino- to Nashville was stricdy intended for the good of 
the service, and not to gratify any desire of my own. 
Believing sincerely that I must have enemies between 
you and myself, who are trying to impair my usefulness, 
i respectfully ask to be relieved from further duty in the 
department." 

General Halleck's response bears the same date : 
" You are mistaken. There is no enemy between you 
and me. There is no letter of yours stating the number 
and position of your command since capture of Donel- 
son. General McClellan has asked for it repeatedly, 
with reference to ulterior movements, but I could not 
give him the information. He is out of all patience 
waiting for it." 

The next day, Grant's letter of the 5th having just 
arrived, Halleck replied in somewhat explanatory vein, 
claimine that, as he had received no returns, the fault 
certainly was not his own, and that he could get no 
replies to repeated telegrams. 

"This certainly indicated a great want of order and 
system in your command, the blame of which was partly 
thrown on me, and perhaps jusdy, as it is the duty of 
every commander to compel those under him to obey 
orders and enforce discipline. Don't let such neglect 
occur again, for it is equally discreditable to you and 
me." 

Although General Halleck refers the origin of the 
complaints for which he calls Grant to account to Wash- 
ington, the records do not contain proof that McClel- 
lan was " out of all patience," or that the dissatisfaction 



230 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

with Grant extended beyond the limits of his (Hal- 
leck's) department. 

Again, on March iith, General Grant renewed his 
request to be relieved in the following telegram : " Yours 
of the 6th instant, enclosing an anonymous letter to the 
Hon. David Davis, speaking of frauds committed against 
the government, is just received. I refer you to my 
orders to suppress marauding as the only reply neces- 
sary. There is such a disposition to fmd fault with me 
tliat I again ask to be relieved until I can be put right in 
the estimation of those- higher in authority." 

General Halleck, after two days' consideration, on 
March 13th, replied: "You cannot be relieved of your 
command. There is no good reason for it. I am cer- 
tain that all which the authorities in Washinofton ask is 
that you enforce discipline and punish the disorderly. 
The power is in your hands use it, and you will be sus- 
tained by all above you. I wish you, as soon as your 
new army is in the field, to assume the immediate com- 
mand, and lead it on to new victories." 

General Grant's reply to this, under date of March 
14th, gives renewed evidence of his singleness of pur- 
pose to devote himself to the good of the cause. 
"After your letter enclosing copy of anonymous letter, 
upon which severe censure was based, I felt as though 
it would be impossible for me to serve longer without a 
court of inquiry. Your telegram of yesterday, however, 
places such a different phase upon my position that I 
will again assume command, and give ever)' effcH't to the 
success of our cause. Under the worst circumstances 
I would do the same." 

General Halleck ao^ain returned to the alle^rations of 
marauding, etc., in a letter dated March i 7th, in which 
he enclosed a letter and a slip cut from a newspaper, 



THE PRICE OF SUCCESS. 231 

''as a sample of what he was daily receiving in relation 
to the general plunder of public property, which, it is 
alleged, took place at Fort Donelson." Representations 
of these robberies having been made to Washington, he 
had been called on again and again to have the officers ; 
and men arrested and punished. In conclusion, he 
wrote: "I have directed hereafter, when any plunder 
of this kind occurs, to arrest every officer in command 
of the troops engaged in it." 

A very singular feature of this correspondence is the 
fact that the official records are silent as to any repre- 
sentations of " robberies by soldiers, or neglect of offi- 
cers, made to Washington," as alleged, excepting those 
made by General Halleck, and quoted above. General 
Grant's letter to Halleck, the last of the series, suggests 
a possible explanation of the animus, the fruit of which 
was the annoyance and at least temporary humiliation 
of the only general officer so far developed by the grim 
schooling of the w^ar who was able to win victories. It 
was written after Grant had resumed his command, 
and was moulding the raw troops w^hich had been 
added — an army which was soon to win his second 
great victory at Shiloh. It bears date March 24th, 
and reads : " Your letter, enclosing correspondence 
between yourself and Adjutant-General Thomas, is just 
received. In regard to the plundering of Fort Donel- 
son, it is very much overestimated by disappointed per- 
sons who failed in getting off the trophies that they 
gathered. My orders of the tinie show that I did all in 
my power to prevent marauding. To execute the 
orders, I kept a company on duty searching the boats 
about leaving, and to bring off all captured property 
found. My great difficulty was with the rush of citizens, 
particularly the Sanitary Committee, who infested Don- 



232 LIFE OF GEXFKAL GRANT. 

elson after its fall. They thoug-ht it an exceedingly hard 
case that patriotic gentlemen like themselves, who had 
gone to tender their services to the sick and wounded, 
could not carry off what they pleased. Most of the 
wounded had reached hospitals before these gentlemen 
reached Cairo. One of these men (a Dr. Fowler) swore 
vengeance against me for the very act of preventing 
trophies being carried off. How many more did the 
same thing I cannot tell. My going to Nashville I did 
not regard particularly as going beyond my district. 
After the fall of Donelson, from information I had, I 
knew the way was clear to Clarksville and Nashville. 
Accordingly, I wrote to you — directed to )our chief of 
staff, as was all my correspondence from the time of 
leaving Fort Henry until I learned you were not hearing 
from me — that by Friday following the fall of Donelson I 
should occupy Clarksville, and by Saturday week lol- 
lowing I should be in Nashville, if not prevented by or- 
ders from head-quarters of the department. During all 
this time not one word was received from you, and I 
accordingly occupied Clarksville on the day indicated, 
and two days after I was to occupy Nashville, General 
Nelson reported to me with a division of Buell's army, 
they being already on transports, and knowing that 
Buell's column should have arrived opposite Nashville 
the day before, and having no use for those troops 
myself, I ordered them immediately to Nashville. 

" It is perfectly plain to me that designing enemies are 
the cause of all the publications that appear, and are the 
means of getting extracts sent to you. It is also a little 
remarkable that the adjutant-general should learn of my 
presence in Nashville before it was known in St. Louis, 
where I reported that I was going before starting. 

" I do not feel that I have neglected a single duty. 



THE PRICE OF SUCCESS. 233 

l\Ty reports to you have averaged at least one a day 
since leaving Cairo, and there has been scarcely a day 
that I have not either written or telegraphed head-quar- 
ters. I most fully appreciate your justness, general, in 
the part you have taken, and you may rely upon me to 
the utmost of my capacity for carrying out all your 
orders." 

Neither in this nor in any other communication does 
it appear that General Grant had been apprised of the 
doubts touching his personal habits suggested in the 
despatches of General McClellan and Adjutant-General 
Thomas. There is no hint in the record that General 
Halleck ever made any investigation touching those 
charges, or any report to Washington relating to them 
other than his first despatch, above quoted, which seems 
to have been the first step in the petty fault-finding. If 
Grant had possessed the fiery, impatient spirit which 
usually characterizes the owners of military qualities of 
the resplendent sort he was soon to display, another 
commander would probably have fought the battle of 
Shiloh, and the whole character of the campaigns in the 
West might have been changed, to the lasting injury of 
the national cause. His eagerness to serve his country 
faithfully in any capacity led him to subordinate all per- 
sonal feeling, and the unpleasant episode ended with 
Halleck's final report to Washington that " General 
Grant had made the proper explanations." 

But what can be said of Halleck, who was persistently 
pouring into the ears of the national authorities the gos- 
sip of the camp, the malice of disappointed people, and 
the contents of anonymous communications ? Probably 
the history of the war furnished no meaner example of un- 
worthy dealing than that of Halleck, assisted by his chief 
of staff, against General Grant. If his popularit}- with 



234 LTFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the nation had been less, the result would probably have 
been different. He was evidendy afraid to relieve him 
of his command in the hour of his triumph; but his de- 
spatches were of a tenor to have inflicted lasting injury 
upon a man less fortified by temper and character for 
resisting such covert attacks. 

General Sherman was at this time at Paducah, and 
many, but not all, of these despatches passed through 
his hands. He now gives the matured opinion that there 
was no ground whatever for the insinuations against 
General Grant. He also gives Halleck credit for acting 
from honest motives in the matter. It is his opinion 
that he desired to permanently supersede Grant with 
General C. F. Smith, whom he regarded as the older and 
better soldier. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 

Grant again in command — Smith's knightly loyalty — Halleck's orders — Buell's lei- 
surely march to Pittsburgh — Albert Sidney Johnston at Corinth — Preparing a sur- 
prise — The Confederate march — Undiscovered in Grant's front — Attacking at 
daylight — Prentiss sustains the first shock — His raw troops give way — Sherman's 
stubborn stand — Thrice driven back — W. H. L. Wallace slain — Sidney Johnston 
mortally wounded — Saved by Webster's guns — Buell's army arrives — The second 
day's battle — Grant takes the offensive — The Confederates' desperate resistance — 
Retreat ordered — Results of the victory. 

A GREATER battle than Waterloo was fought at Shiloh. 
To be sure, thrones were not at stake, but a territory 
imperial in its extent hung upon the issue. Then, again, 
it was the first great battle of a mighty revolution, 
wherein the generalship as well as the courage and 
endurance of the two sections of a republic were to be 
put to the severest test. Patriotism was the motive 
force of this conflict. Citizens of a common country 
were to meet with arms in hands, unskilled, as the no- 
menclature of the drill-sereeant runs. Warlike nations 
create great armies as perfectly as a mechanic fashions 
an engine, and keep them in constant trim for combat. 
The business of war is taueht as an element of educa- 
tion to every subject. But on this battle-field, along the 
banks of the Tennessee, men who were called only a day 
before, as it were, from the plow, the loom, the counter 
and the workshop, were to meet in a test of courage and 
fighting quality that was equal in its breadth of demand 
to anything any captain of the old world had ever made 
upon his trained and experienced soldiers. The result 

(235) 



236 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

electrified the country, for it proved that a summons to 
its unarmed citizens would at any time produce an in- 
vincible army. It once and for all established the fact 
that the general average of American citizenship stands 
ready in all years for war. 

It is not necessary, in tracing the career of a man who 
grasped great events, to settle the disputes between mili- 
tary men as to the details of batdes. In following the 
record of General Grant's life it is not especially im- 
portant whether Sherman, Prentiss, or those immediately 
on the line of battle, expected the enemy on the morning 
of the Confederate attack or not. His head-quarters 
were at Savannah, nine miles down the river, and from the 
very nature of the surroundings it was the business of 
those generals on the advance to keep him informed of 
the condition of affairs in their front. It must be borne 
in mind that he did not select the location upon which 
he found the troops encamped. He had only just re- 
turned to the command after Halleck's tardy justice had 
relieved him of the humiliation he was subjected to after 
his victory at Donelson. He was in anything but a good 
physical condition to conduct the operations of a large 
army. On March i 7th, the day he arrived, he wrote Sher- 
man from Savannah : " I have just arrived, and although 
sick for the last two weeks, begin to feel better at the 
thought of being again with the troops." While re- 
maining in practical disgrace at Fort Henry he had 
done everything in his power to make a success of Gen- 
eral Smith's operations up the Tennessee to Eastport 
and other points. Even after Halleck had notified him 
that he should again take general direction ot move- 
ments in that section, he wTote to Smith: "I think it 
exceedingly doubtful if I shall accept ; certainl)- not 
until the object of )our expedition is accomplished." 



THE BATTLE OE SHILOH. 237 

Smith's reply shows the cordial relations between 
the two commanders : " I wrote you yesterday to say 
how glad I was to find that you were to resume your 
old command, and from which you were so unceremoni- 
ously, and, as I think, so unjustly, stricken down." The 
relations between Grant and Smith were peculiar. The 
latter was sixty years old, and Grant could not get over 
the feeling of distance between himself and the man 
who had inspired him with awe at West Point. Al- 
though Smith had said to him, " I am now a subordinate 
and know a soldier's duty. I hope you will feel no 
awkwardness about our new relations," Grant could not 
without difficulty give his old commandant of school 
days an order, and he was glad when Smith succeeded 
him in command, although he chafed as only such an 
iron nature could under Halleck's conduct toward him. 
But Smith, who was a most gallant and chivalrous officer, 
smoothed the way for Grant's return to the command 
by the friendly letter from which the above quotation is 
made. 

Halleck, cautious and vacillating, had, ever since the 
fall of Donelson, been sending orders to Grant to avoid 
an engagement, and, almost immediately after his restora- 
tion to command, directed that, " if the enemy appeared 
in force, to fall back." 

Smith's expedition had been without results, and he 
dropped back to Pittsburgh Landing and encamped his 
troops on the west bank of the Tennessee. If he had 
succeeded in cutting the railroad at Eastport or at 
Corinth, he was expected to return to Savannah, on 
the opposite side of the river, some miles lower down, 
and go into camp. But, instead, he selected the location 
where the battle of Shiloh was fought, although he 
established his head-quarters at Savannah. 



238 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The Tennessee at this time was overflowing- its banks, 
so that there were only four points where a foothold could 
be obtained, and Smith selected the best, in the judgment 
of leading military men who approved his choice. 

Before the army lay Corinth, nineteen miles away, a 
position of great importance, for it is the meeting points 
for the railway system that stretches through the South 
from cast to west, as well as along the valley of the 
Mississippi. Upon this important point the Federal 
troops were preparing to advance, and the halt at Pitts- 
burgh Landing was simply to gather reinforcements and 
to establish a base of supplies for the operations In that 
important section of the South. The Confederates, ad- 
monished of the danger to their key to the railroad 
system of all tliat region, began rapitlly concentrating 
their troops at Corinth, and, while Halleck was pouring 
his cautions in upon Grant, Beauregard and Sidney 
Johnston were preparing to bear down upon him. At 
this juncture Buell, with forty thousand men, was ordered 
from Nashville to the support of Grant. 

Buell's march was marked by great deliberation. 
On March 20th Halleck had telegraphed Grant, 
" Buell Is at Columbia, and will move on Waynesboro 
with three divisions," On March 27th Grant telegraphed 
to Halleck, *' I have no news yet of any of General 
Buell's command being this side of Columbia." It was 
not until April 3d that he was able to report, "A de- 
spatch from the telegraphic operator is just in. He 
states that General Nelson " (commanding Buell's ad- 
vance) " is In sight." 

It had taken the Army of the Ohio twenty days to 
march ninety miles. Bridge-building and the condition 
of the roads were offered as explanations of tlie delay. 
Most valuable time, however, had been lost, and the 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 239 

opportunity was afforded the enemy of assuming the 
offensive and dehvering a battle which, had it been 
fought according to plans of time and surprise, might 
have eventuated in the crushinor defeat in detail of the 
armies of the Tennessee and Ohio. 

The first week in April, 1862, was not spent wholly in 
camp and drill by Grant's army. Although unsuspecting 
any attack in force, the outposts of both Sherman's and 
Prentiss' divisions had had practice at picket firing and 
skirmishing. An outpost had been captured by the 
enemy on the evening of April 5th, and a force of parts 
of two reofiments sent out to retake them and drive 
away the saucy Confederates had unexpectedly encoun- 
tered a stronger force aided by artillery. The fact was 
duly reported to General Grant by General Sherman, 
but after consultation both of them agreed that the 
demonstration meant no more than a reconnoissance in 
force. It, however, served to redouble the vigilance of 
all the commanders and contributed largely to foil the 
enemy in their expectation that the onslaught of the 
following morning would be a total surprise. 

On the night of April 5th General Grant returned to 
his head-quarters, which were still at Savannah, nine 
miles down the river, expecting that General Buell, with 
whom he had communicated, would have arrived, and 
that the plans for an immediate advance would be 
matured. General Buell, however, had not arrived, 
and General Grant, whose ankle had been seriously 
injured by his horse falling upon him two days before, 
spent a sleepless and painful night awaiting him. At 
that very moment the entire Confederate army lay 
within litde more than fair artillery range of Sherman 
and Prentiss' line, ready to pounce upon the unsuspect- 
ing force at daylight. At daybreak the following morn- 



240 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ing the thunder of the enemy's cannon beyond Pitts- 
burgh Landing called Grant to the front, where he found 
his troops slowly but surely yielding ground before the 
furious onslaughts of Johnston's forces massed in three 
lines of battle. 

Although, as before stated, both Generals Sherman 
and Prentiss had strengthened their outposts and 
doubled their pickets the evening before, the Confed- 
erate onset came with little less than the terrifying sur- 
roundings of a thorough surprise. It was Sunday and a 
beautiful morning in the early spring. The reveille had 
scarcely ceased to echo through the woods and from the 
surrounding hillsides when rapid picket firing apprised 
Prentiss' men that their breakfast would be postponed. 
The men, half dressed, snatching their arms and equip- 
ments, sprang into line with the speed of veterans, to 
the music of volleys of musketry heard by them in hos- 
tility for the first time. A dense line of Confederates, 
commanded by General Hardee, fell upon them before 
they had completed an alignment. 

Reofiments from Missouri, Wisconsin and Michiiran 
received their baptism of fire with a gallantry that gave 
ample promise of their achievements on subsequent 
battle-fields, but were slowly forced back. They consti- 
tuted Prentiss' First brigade. His Second had been 
encamped nearer the Landing, and arived at the front 
only in time to stay the retirement of the First to a 
line in the rear of their former camp. This position 
they held steadfastly until reinforced by one of Hurlbut's 
brigades. 

The attack upon Sherman fell nearl)- half an hour later 
than that on Prentiss. His men were better prepared, 
but the troops were new and some of them gave way 
under die fierce dash of the Confederates. They, ho\v» 



THE BATTLE OE SfTILOH. 



241 



ever, maintained their organizations, and were still fight- 
ing bravely when a portion of McClernand's division 
arrived to support Sherman s w^avering left. General 
W. H. L. Wallace's veterans of Donelson were called 
into the action soon after it began, and did most efficient 
service in the gap of the line made by the rapid disor- 
ganization of the men from Prentiss' right. The ground 



***n~i ^ 




PICKETS ON DUTY. 



gained by the initial attack gave the enemy great confi- 
dence. They charged the Federal lines again and again in 
the teeth of a withering fire of musketry that piled the 
dead and wounded in windrows. The behavior of most 
of the raw troops was heroic, but that of some of the offi- 
cers was cowardly in the extreme. One colonel deliber- 
ately led his regiment off the field and could not be 



242 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

shamed into doing his duty. In other instances shat 
tered battahons could not be driven into Hne by the most 
gallant efforts of their officers. Before lo a. m. it was 
estimated that as many as eight thousand men had 
straggled from the field in panic, and in agony of fright 
were seeking the sheltering banks of the river and the 
protection of the gunboats. 

General Grant's first step on hearing the firing was to 
address an order to General Nelson, commanding Buell's 
advance division, then just out of Savannah, directing 
him to transfer his troops immediately across the river to 
Pittsburgh. He had apprehended that an attack, if 
made, would fall upon General Lew Wallace's division, 
which was covering Crump's Landing, a point some dis- 
tance from the battle-field. As soon as he perceived the 
real point of attack orders were sent to Wallace to 
march his division across Snake creek and go into 
action on the rieht of Sherman. Then Grant hurried to 
the scene of conflict, arriving shortly after eight o'clock. 
By some mishap Wallace took the wrong road, was 
forced to countermarch. after finding himself still farther 
away from the fray, and did not arrive in time to partici- 
pate in the first day's struggle. But on the second he 
fought his troops so well that his l^lunder of the first was 
little more than recalled at the time. Later he was re- 
garded as a most efficient officer. 

Having rapidly despatched orders for the movement 
of troops toward the scene of tlu- fighting, General Grant 
next directed his personal efforts to any part of the line 
which seemed most in need of the commander's super- 
vision. He found the entire left driven back to posi- 
tions some distance in the rear of those occupied in the 
morning. All attempts to turn Sherman's right Hank 
had been repulsed with heavy loss, but the attacks along 



THE BATTLE OE SHILOH. 



248 



the whole front, kept up with unrelenting vigor, had 
forced the line repeatedly to take up new positions 



nearer Pittsburgh Landing. 




GENERAL SHERMAN. 

While most of the Union troops fought with almost 
unexampled heroism against great disadvantages, that 
demoralizing debris tiiat surges back from every batde- 



244 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

field was increased many fold at Shiloh. What then shook 
new men from their duty would have passed unheeded a 
year later. But one who has never looked upon a mass 
of men with guns in their hands frightened beyond con- 
trol of discipline cannot form any impression ot the sight 
that met Grant's eyes that morning before ten o'clock, 
while he was tr\ing to bring order out of chaos and re- 
assure the panic-stricken men and turn them toward the 
front where their comrades were in death-struggle with 
the enemy. It took an iron nerve to meet the shock that 
must have greeted the commander's eye. Many men 
would have lost their heads. But Grant, cool and de- 
termined, sought the division commanders, cheered them 
with his apparent confidence, and directed the movement 
of troops without the slightest show of concern. 

Words cannot describe nor fancy paint a picture of 
the day. As hour after hour went by the fighting was 
continued. The whole line was . not always engaged, 
but some portion of it was fighting continuously. 
Through the open fields, in the woods and among 
the underbrush the combat continued relentlessly. A 
thicket of scrub trees was mowed down by the hail of 
bullets, and as charge after charge was made back and 
forth over the field the blue and the gray lay dead 
together. Probably in no battle of the war was the 
immediate presence of the commander so important at 
the front as in this engagement. Troops had to be 
handled quickly and shifted rapidly. Time after time 
Grant exposed himself to the same dangers as any 
subaltern officer. To his personal gallantry was due in 
a great measure the failure of the Confederates to win 
a victory on the first day. To be sure, Sherman was 
conspicuous for his intelligent bravery, and handled his 
men with such skill and spirit as lo win never-dying 



THE BATTLE OE SHJLOH. 245 

laurels. The other eeneral officers were also com- 
mended for their heroism, and acts of individual courage 
were almost as numerous as the men who remained and 
foueht. But in enofaorements such as Shiloh, where the 
tide starts in against a general and has to be turned, the 
presence and bearing of the commander is often a vital 
factor in determining the result. So it was in this case. 
In riding hither and thither over the field, many times in 
danger of life or limb, Grant was far more than the com- 
mander at a safe distance away directing the battle 
through staff officers. 

The temper of the Confederate commander who 
operated against him can be easily gathered from the 
fact that he was mortally wounded while giving to a 
wavering brigade the encouragement of his inspiring 
presence when they halted upon the verge of a charge. 
This also is proof of the intensity of the battle from the 
Confederate side, showing that all the straggling was 
not from the Federal troops nor the easy tide of batde 
with their enemy. 

In one of the backward moves, made necessary by 
the changing fortunes of the day, Prendss did not fall 
back with the others, and thus his flanks were exposed. 
Into the gap the enemy poured a column, which, doubling 
up his line, enabled them to capture him and twenty-two 
hundred of his men. Some of the stories of the battle 
published at the time, which afterward came to be re- 
garded as authentic history, state that Prentiss and his 
men were captured in their tents early in the morning, 
and this was regarded as evidence of the complete sur- 
prise of the Federal forces. In fact, he was captured at 
5.30 p. M., after having gallantly borne the brunt of a 
most unequal engagement for nearly eleven hours. 

The news that General Johnston had fallen reached 



246 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the Federal army soon after that event occurred, 
and its effect was perceived in the diminished violence 
of the charges of the enemy for the time being. The 
lull, however, was only the prelude to one of the most 
desperate and sustained attacks of the day, made late 
in the afternoon upon the almost disorganized left of 
the Federal line. It had been forced back until it rested 
upon the river near Pittsburgh Landing. Just at that 
point Colonel Webster, of Grant's staff, had posted 
twenty pieces of artillery, some of them of heavy calibre. 
The ci'unboats had taken up a position where they could 
add the terrors of their heavy ordnance, and as the 
Confederates leaped the ravine and advanced on their 
final charge they were met by a paralyzing hail of heavy 
missiles which sent them reeling back to the cover of the 
woods and hills. This was the turning point of the 
battle. Although victory seemed within their grasp, 
they were too tired and disorganized to renew the charge. 
Thus ended the first day at Shiloh. 

General Grant, in his description of the battle of 
Shiloh, published in the Cciihiry magazine, thus describes 
the situation at the close of the first day's fighting: 

" Extending from the top of the bluff just south of the 
log-house, which stood at Pittsburgh Landing, Colonel J. 
D. Webster, of my staff, had arranged twent}' or more 
pieces of artillery facing south or up the river. This 
line of artillery was on the crest of a hill overlooking a 
deep ravine opening into the Tciuiessee. Hurlbut. with 
his division intact, was on the riglit of this artillery, ex- 
tending west and possibly a little north. McClernand 
came next in the general line looking more to the west. 
His division was complete and ready for any duty. 
Sherman came next, his ri^rht extendinof to Snake creek. 
His command, like the others, was complete in its or- 



THE BATTLE OE SHILOH. 247 

q-anization, and ready, like its chief, for any service it 
might be called upon to render. All three divisions 
were, as a matter of course, more or less shattered and 
depleted in numbers from the terrible battle of the day. 
General W. H. L. Wallace had been mortally wounded 
in one of the severest clashes of the day, and his 
division had been thrown into disorder as much 
from chanor-es of division and briorade commanders 
under heavy fire as from any other cause. It lost its 
organization, and did not now occupy a place in the 
line as a division. Prentiss' command was gone as a 
division, many of its members having been killed, 
wounded, or captured. But it had rendered valiant ser- 
vice before its final dispersal, and had contributed a good 
share to the defence of Shiloh." 

Terribly as his army had suffered, General Grant did 
not yet despair of victory after a night of rest and a 
new day dawned. When the last Confederate charge 
had spent its force, he and Sherman began an earnest 
discussion of the situation. To his chief lieutenant he 
expressed a perfect confidence in final success. He 
stated his belief that whichever army began the attack 
would win. He said to Sherman that in his opinion 
when two forces had contended nearly to the point of 
exhaustion, whichever first returned to the assault se- 
cured an advantage. He recalled Donelson as an ex- 
ample, and then gave orders for an attack in the morn- 
ing — even before he knew of the arrival of Buell's 
army. 

It was in this memorable interview that Sherman 
became impressed with that sublime confidence and 
supreme self-reliance which were so characteristic of the 
quiet man who spoke with him upon the event's of the day 
and the prospects of the morrow. It was no wonder 




■ "^^V-' iM.-d ■.,... ■' a:",- ■v-Jiuy.aUBi 



■ -.■ii' 



THE BATTLE OE SHILOH. 249 

that Sherman looked with amazement upon his com- 
placency after the frightful exactions that had borne 
upon him since sunrise. It was no wonder. He might 
well marvel at Grant's seeming unconcern. It was dur- 
ing this very talk that Sherman imbibed an honest 
admiration which never ceased for the man who never 
thought of defeat even in the hour of extreme peril. To 
be sure, in almost every element of mind and character 
Grant was wholly unlike the hero who marched to the 
sea, and who on this day took his first introduction to 
the trials of grave responsibilities in battle. 

Almost with the cessation of the Confederate at- 
tack General Lew Wallace's fresh division arrived 
upon the battle-field, and the division of General Nelson 
began to debark at Pittsburgh Landing. The arrival of 
Buell brought a new complication. Although Grant 
outranked him in fact, yet the former was in command 
of a department while Grant had only a district. The 
two officers met upon a transport at the landing. 
Buell listened to Grant's story of the battle, summary 
of its results, and plans for attacking in the morning. He 
shook his head grimly and pointed significandy to the 
thousands of panic-stricken deserters and stragglers 
still skulking far in the rear under the protection, of 
the river bank. " He evidendy thought we had better 
be planning a line of retreat," Grant subsequendy said, 
when telling the story of this conference. Before it 
was concluded, however, Grant and Buell had an under- 
standing, and the latter gave the necessary orders, and 
by the next day his thirty thousand fresh troops were 
shoulder to shoulder with the tired soldiers of the Army 
of the Tennessee. 

Night came on, and with it a heavy rainfall which did 
not cease until daybreak. Grant tried to sleep in an old 



250 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

house where the surgeons were caring for the wounded, 
but the scenes there being enacted were too much for a 
heart that was always touched by human suffering, hard 
as it may have appeared to those who only looked at the 
dead that received the grim summons while obeying his 
orders. He left the place, remarking, " the cries of the 
wounded are more unendurable than the fire of the 
enemy." Under a tree, in a driving storm and with the 
rain drenching him to the skin, he passed the night as 
uncomfortably as any common soldier in the army. 
Those were fearful hours of waitincr and watchino-. On 
almost every hand the cries of the wounded and dying 
could be heard. The changing vicissitudes of the day 
had scattered the Union and Confederate fallen over the 
field in such confusion that it was impossible to distin- 
c;uish between them. All night the moaning of the 
maimed was heard above the sound of the driving storm, 
which in its way was a relief, for the suffering of wounded 
men without water is always intense. Words cannot pic- 
ture the sincTular and trao-ic scenes of that nieht while 
Grant rested under a tree, anxious for daylight, to renew 
the harvest of death, for his sickle had been whetted and 
his arms strengthened by the arrival of new reapers. 

Speaking of the battle of Shiloh and this dreary night 
viml General Grant lonof afterward said to his lifelono- 
friend, General Ouinby, "From the hour the first day's 
fight ceased until the end, I never had a doubt of win- 
ning, and I rested that night in that perfect confidence." 

The day dawned to the music of bullets. The rainfall 
was subsiding, and rapid preparations were being made 
for another day's grapple with the stubborn enemy. The 
right of the line, as reorganized for the battle of April 
7th, was held by General Lew Wallace's fresh divis- 
ion. To his left were Sherman, McClernand and 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 



251 



Hurlbiit, the several divisions reinforced by as many of 
the disorofanized commands of Generals W. H. L. Wal- 
lace and Prentiss as could be hastily reorganized. The 
left of the line, filling up the gap to Lick creek, was oc- 
cupied by McCook's, Nelson's and Crittenden's divisions, 
of.Buell's army. Losses in action and through strag- 
gling had reduced Beauregard's effective force. Under 




THE BATTLE GF SHILOH-SHOWING SHILOH CHURCH. 

the hail of the gunboats and partly owing to the rain 
these had withdrawn during the night, excepting a thin 
advanced line, to the camps out of which the Federal 
forces had been driven the previous morning. To Sher- 
man was assigned the task of retaking his position at 
Shiloh Church, and he did it. 

The Confederate advance line, tired from the fierce 
struggle of the previous day, recoiled from the first blow 



252 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ot the now attacking Federal forces, struck early in the 
morniiiL^. Their line was promptly reinforced, but they 
did not fight with the dash and determination which 
marked their onsets the day before. Many times they 
made fierce countercharges to retake ground from which 
they had been driven, but each time they were forced 
farther back until, one after another, the camps of the 
Union forces were retaken, and as the crowning work 
Sherman again reoccupied his position at Shiloh Church, 
and held it with a grasp that knew no loosening. 

The second day's battle was severe at times, but no 
comparison to the deadly work of the first. While the 
Confederates fought with determination now and then, 
they had lost the prestige of their first success at the open- 
ing of the battle and they rushed to the onset without their 
usual vigor. Two or three times there were critical mo- 
ments, but they were overcome without serious loss. In 
one of them Grant in person led one Ohio regiment and 
part of another in an impetuous assault upon the enemy, 
sharing the dangers of the humblest private soldier of 
the command. On the last day as the first he rode about 
the field giving as much attention to the movements as 
possible and sharing in its perils. The fight did not last 
all day. 

Beauregard, who had slept in Sherman's quarters on 
Sunday night, from them issued the order to retreat at 
two o'clock on Monday, and then left. It was not a 
rout, although his forces were much demoralized. Post- 
ing Breckinridge as a rear guard, he withdrew his forces 
five miles beyond the line occupied by Grant before 
Sunday's battle. He had failed in the two objects of his 
campaign. Grant's army had not been driven into the 
Tennessee, anil the dreaded junclion uf his arm)' wiiii 
Buell's had been accomplished. 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 



253 



The losses on both sides were larger in proportion 
to the numbers engaged than those of any batde of the 
war. Out of the thirty-eight thousand men of the Army 
of the Tennessee, just over ten thousand were killed, 
wounded and missing. The losses of BueU's army 
swelled the Federal casualties to twelve thousand two 
hundred and seventeen. Of the losses of the two 
armies seventeen hundred were killed, seven thousand 
four hundred and ninety-five wounded, and three thou- 





PI" 

GENERAL GRANT LEADING THE OHIO REGLMENT AT SHILOH. 

sand and twenty-two missing. Beauregard's losses footed 
up, accordinq- to his own admission, ten thousand six 
hundred and ninety-nine. 

Beauregard's army made no attempt to halt nearer 
than Corinth. Out of his fifty thousand troops hurled 
into batde on Sunday morning, he was barely able to 
assemble twenty thousand when they returned to 
Corinth, three days later. His dead were left on the 



254 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

field to be buried by the army which he had failed to de- 
stroy. 

The battle decided little beyond proving the splen- 
did fighting qualities of the contestants. Both Grant and 
Sherman have since declared that the only fio-htino- of 
the war comparable with that of Shiloh for fierceness, 
determination and tenacity was that of the Wilderness. 

The day after the battle Halleck arrived on the field 
and assumed the active conduct of subsequent opera- 
tions, which resulted in a prolonged campaign of shovels 
and picks against Corinth. 

Reports of the battle of Shiloh, which reached the 
North through correspondents and the reports of sub- 
ordinate officers, again obscured Grant's military fame. 
Owing to Halleck's arrival and assumption of the com- 
mand, he had not deemed it necessary to make any 
official report, and those of his division commanders, 
necessarily fragmentary and relating solely to the fight- 
ing done by their own commands, were taken as con- 
firmatory of the impression that the army had been 
surprised the first day and was only saved from 
destructive defeat by the arrival of Buell's army on the 
second day. None of these Grant was ever permitted 
tc see. The reports of General Buell and his sub- 
ordinates made specific claim to the honor of having 
retrieved an almost hopeless disaster. Grant was said 
to have been drunk, his subordinates in most unwarlike 
ease, and undiscipline had neglected the most elemen- 
tary precautions which should be observed by an invad- 
ing army in the presence of an enemy. 

General Buell had dwelt much upon the impression 
made upon him by the hopeless demoralization of the 
stragglers and deserters whom he had threatened to 
shell out of their hiding-place under the river banks 
when he first marched to the scene of the conflict. 



THE BATTLE OE SHILOH. 



255 



There always has been and always will be more or 
less of controversy as to the importance of the part 
taken by the Army of the Ohio in the second day's 
fight. The fact that they lost something over two thou- 
sand men, mostly killed and wounded, is ample testi- 
mony that they took a willing hand in the engagement 
after they arrived. But whether Grant would have been 
driven into the Tennessee if they had not arrived is a 
problem that can never be solved. He never thought 
so. It ought to be glory enough for the men under 
Buell to know that they did what they were ordered to 
do, demonstra- /« « ^i 
ted their sol- ' 
dierly qualit) 
and were in at 
the defeat, hav- 
ino- a full share 
of the glory of 
success. The 
war lasted too 
long, and the ^ 
men who com- 
posed Bu ell's BUR2JING HORSES AT SHILOH 

army proved their heroism on so many fields that 
they can well rest their reputations upon their achieve- 
ments. The Army of the Tennessee demonstrated its 
capacity by its single-handed struggle on the first day 
and its fortitude on the last, and, alas, by its losses that 
footed up more than ten thousand in the two days. It 
is enough to say of it at Shiloh that an army gathered in 
its front for the purpose of surprise made a furious rush 
upon it in the gray of morning when no enemy was ex- 
pected and almost overwhelmed it ; that it resisted this 
furious attack, fighting from daylight to dark, contesting 




25H LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the ground inch by inch, despite the fact that ten thou- 
sand of its comrades drifted to the rear in panic and 
skulked under the shelter of the river banks. The men 
who sustained the brunt of the fight on the first day, as 
the second, need no greater eulogy than the facts. 
Those who remained in tlie ranks fouo-ht with as much 
persistency and courage, although almost untrained in 
the manual of arms, as any set of men did at any period 
of the war. 

There has been entirely too much feeling engendered 
by the controversies which sprang up immediately after 
the battle and have been kept alive ever since. Most 
of Bu ell's army claim to have saved the day by their 
timel)' arrival, and the Army of the Tennessee has re- 
torted that had they marched as fast as they should they 
would have been there before the battle began. Two 
men rarely see things alike. Two generals are seldom 
similar in their methods of march and fight. It may be 
true that Buell was too slow. It is true that Grant's 
army had not fortified its position or prepared the ordi- 
nary means of defence, for they were expecting to make 
an offensive rather than defensive campaign. But these 
are small matters as compared with the general treat- 
ment of the enCTagrement and its results. 

In all the discussions that have taken place in reference 
to Shiloh, the personal bearing of the commander, as well 
as that of nearly all the generals and most of the rank and 
file, nothing has been written or said that can detract 
from tlieir achievements or glorv upon that memorable 
field. 

It is not necessary in reviewing General Grant's ca- 
reer to consider any of the disputes that have arisen in 
relation to that battle. He won a victory there. He did 
not expect an attack. His army was pounced upon and 



THE BATTLE OF SIIILOH. 2-37 

almost overthrown before he was aware of the onset. 
When he reached the field and found his army in con- 
fusion he wrested victory from the jaws of defeat. This 
effort called for exceptional powers, and in the emergency 
he rose to the necessities of the occasion. He deserved 
the thanks of his countrymen. The plain story of Shiloh 
can never be improved by controversies over technical 
points. The exalted heroism displayed upon that battle- 
field by both sides is the common heritage of a reunited 
people. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOII. 

Beauregard in the West — Interview with General A. S. Johnston — The Confederate 
line of defence — Its weak points indicated — John-ton's gloom — Beauregard 
concentrated at Corinth — A badly-armed force — Johnston arrives at Corinth — 
He assumes command — The march to Shiloh — Tardiness of Polk — The onset 
delayed — Confederate dispositions for battle — The attack a total surprise — 
Sheridan's and Prentiss' resistance — The Federals driven back thrice — John- 
ston's fatal wound — The Confederates' final charge — Sleeping in the Federal 
camps — The second days' fight — Buell's fresh troops — The Confederate retreat. 

The concentration of Confederate troops for offensive 
operations against General Grant on the Tennessee was 
very carefully made. General Beauregard had left the 
Army of the Potomac with great reluctance, nearly two 
months before the battle of Shiloh, for the purpose of 
adding his experience and recognized talents to the 
work of reorsfanizinijf and concentratino- in the West. 
The disaster to Zollickoffer at Mill Spring, Ky., on 
January 19th, and the threatening attitude of affairs 
generally in the western department, were the moving 
causes of Beauregard's transfer. 

The Confederate line extending from Columbus 
on the Mississippi to the Big Barren in Kentucky, 
with Bowling Green and Columbus as the two sal- 
ients, was still undisturbed when Beauregard reached 
General Albert Sidney Johnston's headquarters at 
Bowling Green on the 5th of February. Grant was 
threatening from the direction of Cairo, and Buell 
hovered with a much larger force than Johnston's in 
the quarter of Green River, with evident designs 
258 



CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOH. 259 

against Nashville. At tlie time General Grant began 
his advance by ^vay of the Tennessee River, the 
Confederate force, within easy reach by rail of the 
assailed points, was at least forty-one thousand men. 
General Beauregard at once counseled General John- 
ston that the Confederate line was exceedingly faulty 
and that Bowlinof Green must be abandoned so soon as 
Buell advanced, and that Columbus was equally exposed 
to a fatal attack by land and river. He, tlierefore, pro- 
posed that when Grant should proceed against Fort 
Henry, all the available Confederate force be thrown 
upon him so as to overwhelm him with decisive odds, 
and then concentrate to meet Buell offensively. 

General Johnston did not consent to this, and very soon 
thereafter Fort Henry fell — the chance to overwhelm 
General Grant at Fort Donelson was lost, and, as 
General Beauregard had pointed out, Bowling Green 
and Columbus dropped by their own weight. 

General Beauregard went to Jackson, in West Tenn- 
essee, in February, 1862, after having had an under- 
standing with General Johnston that, if Donelson fell and 
Nashville was abandoned, the Confederate forces, under 
his own command, were to concentrate at some central 
point so as to cover the railroads from Memphis to the 
East and North. Those under Johnston, in Middle 
Tennessee, were to fall back toward Stevenson, Alabama. 

As General Beauregard had forecast, Forts Henry and 
Donelson scarcely caused a halt to the seventeen thou- 
sand men which Grant had at first flung at these two 
points in the re-entering angle of the Confederate line. 
On Februar)- i8th, only the day after Beauregard 
reached Jackson, General Johnston telegraphed him : 
" You must now act as seems best to you. The separa- 
tion of our armies is, for the present, complete." 



260 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The same night he retreated in the direction of Mur- 
freesboro' on the direct road to Stevenson. He halted 
his column at Murfreesboro' to pick up stragglers from 
Donelson and other points, and gather in small bodies 
of detached Confederate troops. The Federal army did 
not occupy the capital of Tennessee before the 26th, by 
which time General Johnston had a force of seventeen 
thousand men near the place where the batde of Stone 
River was afterwards fought. 

It is difficult to describe the depression that General 
Grant's successes, and the reverses to General Johns- 
ton's command, produced throughout the Confederacy. 
They were serious blows to our cause, breeding dissatis- 
faction and distrust which almost overshadowed the joy 
occasioned by successes in the East the year before. 
Upon General Johnston these reverses fell with great 
weight, and he felt that his military career had been sorely 
blemished by them. 

While all these things were transpiring, General Beau- 
regard was concentrating and organizing his forces for 
the defense of Memphis and West Tennessee. During 
all the time since their separation before the fall of 
Donelson, he had been urging General Johnston to 
abandon the idea of fallinof back to :!^tevenson, and to 
join him in concentratiner a laree force at Corinth for 
future offensive or defensive operations. Johnston was 
finally led to recognize, after the fall of Nashville, that the 
best move for him to make was " to co-operate or unite 
with Beauregard for the defense of Memphis and the 
Mississippi River," as he wrote the Confederate 
Secretary of War on Februar)' 27th. A movement for 
the junction of the two armies was begun on February 
28th, but was not completed until March 25th. lack of 
energy on the part of the Federal commander in that 



CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOH. 261 

quarter having made the tardy movement a possi- 
bility. 

While General Johnston was marching toward Corinth 
he was contemplating a defensive rather than an offensive 
campaign, and was looking for a point of concentration 
farther south than the railroad centre to which Beaure- 
gard ultimately led him. At Decatur, on March 15th, 
the tendency of his mind is to be read in this despatch 
to General Beauregard, " Have you had the right bank 
of the Hatchee examined near Bolivar ? I recommend 
it to your attention. It has, besides other advantages, 
that of being further from the enemy's base." 

When the two generals met for the first time since the 
fall of Donelson, General Johnston was much cast down. 
Men of his exalted character and high degree of courage 
are most apt to feel keenly the darts of adverse criticism, 
and he evidently suffered deeply, but without complaint. 
In his first interview with General Beauregard he be- 
trayed much emotion, and expressed his purpose to 
place the latter in direct command of the army thus as- 
sembled, to operate against Grant, reserving to himself 
only the functions of departmental commander with 
headquarters at or near Holly Springs, Miss. 

He stated that recent events had deprived him of 
the confidence of the country, and he feared of the 
army to such an extent as to impair its moral 
strength if he remained in actual command of it. He 
felt sure that General Beauregard, who held the con- 
fidence of both, was better equipped to deal with the 
present emergency. Profoundly touched by General 
Johnston's manner and spirit. General Beauregard prompt- 
ly declined to accept any such sacrifice, and urged, in- 
stead, that they should unite their best energies in striking 
a decisive blow at the enemy. He oudined to General 



262 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Johnston the probabiHties of a very successful offensive 
campaign against General Grant, one in which the en- 
thusiasm of the Southern people would be rekindled and 
their good will speedily recovered. General Johnston, 
touched by General Beauregard's manner and speech, 
shook him warmly by the hand, saying : 

" Well, be it so, General. We two together will do our 
best to secure success.' 

The meeting w^as an affecting one. They parted with 
the understanding that they v.-ould immediately prepare 
for the offensive, with General Beaurecjard exercisinor the 
actual command of the army. Shortly after this, General 
Beauregard furnished me the notes for an order announc- 
ing the organization, and the fact that the troops were to 
be prepared for the field with the greatest possible energy. 

I drew up the order which was submitted to Gene- 
ral Johnston, who approved it as it was issued. This 
order designated General Johnston as the general in 
command, and General Beauregard as second in com- 
mand. The only change made in the order from the time 
General Beauregard first handed it to me until it was 
signed by General Johnston, was that designating, at my 
suQrcrestion, General Braxton Brao-cr as chief-of-staff In 
a subsequent order I was named as the adjutant-gen- 
eral of the army. 

Bragg's staff position was a nominal one, given 
only for the purpose of investing him with the right 
to give orders upon the field in the name of Gene- 
ral Johnston, if necessary, as was thought expedient 
at the time. For the next five days after these orders 
were issued, General Beauregard was at work, day and 
night, preparing the army for a forward movement. As 
adjutant-general of the army thus assembled, I was spe- 
cially announced cliief of the department of orders, and 



CONFEDERA TE VIE W OF SHIL OH. 263 

all communications to or from either of the corps com- 
manders, passed through my hands. Official evidence is 
so abundant as to the real moving spirit of the purpose 
and plan of the batde of Shiloh as to render it beyond 
controversy. 

The Confederate forces now brought together at 
Corinth, and in that quarter, were in full spirit for a for- 
ward movement. But all the troops that we could gather 
for some weeks were on the ground. Further, the isolated 
position of General Grant on the west bank of the Ten- 
nessee, was tempting us to give him battle there. When 
the sun went down on the night of April 2d, we were in. 
as good condition to attack as we were likely to be, while 
the enemy was watching Buell's approach. The informa- 
tion came through General Cheatham, who, with a division 
of Polk's corps posted at Bethel, some twenty miles north 
on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, had been menaced by 
General Lew Wallace's division. 

On learning this. General Beauregard promptly de- 
cided that the time had come to strike. His argu- 
ments, added to those which I adventured in an in- 
terview with General Johnston, induced that officer 
to agree that the necessary orders for the advance 
of the Confederate army at noon the next day should 
issue. Orders to that effect were in the hands of 
Bragg, Hardee and Polk, the corps commanders, by 
1.40 A.M., the morning of the march. In them was spec- 
ified all details as to rations, ammunition, transportation, 
bao-o-ao-e. The roads to be taken to the field, with all the 
details of the movement of the first day, and even man- 
ner of entering batde, were carefully explained to Gene- 
rals Bragg, Polk and Hardee by General Beauregard, in 
the presence of General Johnston in Beauregard's own 
quarters, whither Johnston had gone soon after sunrise 



264 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

on the morning of the 3d of April. This explanation 
being made, the corps commanders were told to put their 
respective commands in motion without delay. These 
explanations, I must add, followed rigidly written notes 
or memoranda previously dictated by Beauregard to one 
of his aides-de-camp, and from which I formulated the 
order that was published that afternoon, and which is 
published among the documents of the epoch. 

By midday on April 3d, the Confederate armies filled 
the streets of Corintli in martial array, and marching 
order. Delay, caused by some misunderstanding on the 
part of General Polk — with downright tardiness on the 
part of others — delayed the actual start until 3 p.m. This 
was unfortunate for the Confederates, inasmuch as it 
prevented them from reaching the battle-field until Satur- 
day, April 6th, Instead of Friday, as had been expected. 

On the evening of April 4th, the headquarters of John- 
ston, Beauregard and Bragg happened to be at Monte- 
rey, eleven miles out from Corinth. Just as General 
Beauregard and staff dismounted, a bare-headed young 
Federal major from Ohio was brought in a prisoner. He 
had been captured during a heavy reconnaissance, pressed 
forward from Braoro-'s advance almost into the enemv's 
lines, very indiscreetly, inasmuch as the success of our 
movement depended upon surprising our adversary. 
We, however, learned from him that our approach was 
wholly unexpected, and that no intrenchments whatever 
had been thrown up for the protection of the Federal 
encampments. 

The next day the forces were so clumsily handled that 
Hardee's corjDs, which held the first of the three lines 
of battle into which our army was divided, was not in 
the position prescribed for it until about 3 p.m. General 
Polk also reported at about that hour that his men had 



CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHJLOH. 265 

already exhausted dielr five days' radons. Beauregard 
was now forced to the conclusion, and so asserted to 
Johnston, that the campaign had miscarried, inasmuch as 
the unnecessary delay in marching twenty miles, together 
with the other untoward circumstances recited, excluded 
the hope that the enemy could be surprised ; in fact, he 
said, by the next morning they would be intrenched to 
the very eyes. He therefore recommended the aban- 
donment of the operation, and immediate return of the 
Confederate army to Corinth. 

While admitdng the force of Beauregard's views, Gen- 
eral Johnston, still hoping to surprise the enemy, decided 
to venture the hazard of battle. The Confederate corps 
commanders, therefore, were directed to advance the 
next morning at dawn, and engage the enemy as early 
as possible, in the order and after the manner prescribed 
and explained in the special order of battle. The front 
lines of the two armies were not more than two miles 
apart that night, and the tattoo beaten in the Federal 
camps was distinctly heard by General Hardee's corps, 
and even at the bivouac of General Johnston. We could 
follow the location of the enemy's troops, and count the 
number of regiments, by the drumbeats at tattoo. 

The Confederates were astir at 3 a. m. that eventful 
Sunday morning. Hastily breakfasting, they were 
formed in lines of battle as had been prescribed, except- 
ing that, most fortunately for Sherman, Hardee's left 
flank had not been extended so as to reach Owl Creek 
as he had been explicitly ordered. His force numbered 
over nine thousand bayonets deployed in line of battle. 
Six hundred yards rearward was Bragg's corps of nearly 
eleven thousand infantry and artillery. Polk, with nine 
thousand one hundred and thirty-five men, was eight hun- 
dred yards yet further rearward, and after them, held in 



266 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

reserve, was Breckenridge's division of six thousand four 
hundred and thirty-nine bayonets. The Confederates 
thus numbered thirty-five thousand three hundred and 
twenty-nine infantry and artillery, and about forty-three 
hundred cavalry, so poorly armed as to be of no use ex- 
cept to watch the flanks for any hostile approach. 

A description of the ground occupied by Grant's army 
will be necessary to the comprehension of the occur- 
rences and vicissitudes of the coming battle. Lick and 
Owl Creeks starting on a ridge dividing the watersheds 
of the Mississippi and Tennessee, running eastward^ 
almost parallel, empty into the latter four miles apart. 
The table-land between these water courses, for a dis- 
tance of five miles out from the Tennessee, is much cut 
up by ravines draining generally into Owl Creek, the 
hill tops rising in some places one hundred feet above 
low water in the river. A primeval forest much cum- 
bered with undergrowth clothed the hillsides excepting 
where a few small farms had been cleared. Several 
roads traverse or cross this plateau leading toward 
Pittsburg Landing. 

Three brigades of Sherman's division occupied the 
right of the Federal line, resting on Owl Creek. On 
their left were Prentiss's division, and still further to the 
left, their flank resting on Lick Creek, was Stuart's bri- 
gade of Sherman's division. To Sherman's rear, within 
easy supporting distance, were the veteran regiments of 
McClernand's division. Ilurlburt's and W. H. L. Wal- 
lace's divisions completed the Federal second line with 
their extreme left, stretching nearly to Stuart's position. 
Thus, the two lines were disposed within easy support- 
ing distance, and both flanks of the Union forces were 
protected by the creeks, which, at this season, were 
unfordable. 



CONFEDERA TE VIE W OF SHIL OH. 267 

Neither Grant nor Sherman expected the attack which 
burst upon the Union army that Sunday morning, just 
after sunrise, as their dispatches about that time amply 
show. In fact, the guns at Shiloh awoke the Federal 
commander, who had slept at Savannah, nine miles away. 
When his steamer came to the landing he found the 
western bank of the river alive with his men who had 
been routed from their tents by that early morning 
attack. His whole front line was surprised and dis- 
lodo-ed and the ravines were packed with thousands of 
crouching fugitives. 

Aside from documentary proof, it seems difficult to 
believe that either of the most trusted Federal generals 
had the faintest expectation of attack, although a hostile 
army, forty thousand strong, was encamped within two 
miles of Sherman's headquarters. The completeabsence of 
those ordinary precautions that hedge an army in the field, 
forbid us from regarding that first day's batde as other 
than one of the most complete surprises ever inflicted 
upon an army. Without advanced infantry pickets or 
cavalry videttes, the line of brigade sentinels had barely 
time to discharge their guns, when the Confederate 
masses close at their heels entered the half roused en- 
campments. Many officers were still asleep, while others 
were eadng breakfast, while their arms lay scattered in 
disorder. The left of Hardee's line of attack only struck 
the left brigade of Sherman's line commanded by Hilde- 
brand ; but Prentiss's division received the first shock from 
flank to flank. Hildebrand's regiments swept from their 
encampments scattered in confusion, and were no more 
heard of as an organization on either day of the batde. 
Prentiss's division rallying was reformed on a neighbor- 
ing ridge, but was forced still further back, although 
fighdng gallandy. Sherman's right brigade, hitherto 



268 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

untouched by Hardee's line, availing themselves of all 
advantages of ground, struggled manfully to make head 
against Ruggles' division of the second line, pushed 
into the gap on Hardee's left. The small water course 
in front of the Federal right added to the strength of 
Sherman's front, affording him a converging fire upon 
his assailants. Still the pressure upon him was so great 
that his line was giving way, and he had lost five or six 
guns before IMcClernand arrived to his support. Both 
were pressed steadily back until they gained foothold 
at cross roads in their rear, where several batteries were 
favorably posted. Their new position was a thickly 
wooded ridge, with a ravine in their front. There they 
stood until Ruoro-Ies, reinforced, assailed them aeain with 
such fury that they were pressed back to the new 
ground, this time on a line with McClernand's camps. 

When Hurlburt, informed by the uproar in his front that 
he was needed, pressed forward his brigades, he met the 
broken fragments of Prentiss' command which filtered 
through his lines as he formed his men south of the po- 
sition last taken by Sherman and IMcClernand. Hurl- 
burt was assailed with great vigor, but his men maintained 
their position with great obstinacy despite the loss 
of a battery which was abandoned by his artillerists. 
The Confederates here advancing in column instead 
of deployed, suffered severely. Meanwhile, Prentiss 
rallying some of his men, fought them effectively on 
Hurlburt's right, the two giving ground slowly under 
the Southern onslaught, using numerous artillery to 
stay the progress of their assailants. But at this time 
the Confederates were already in possession of their 
enemy's camps filled with equipage and baggage as lux- 
urious as ever encumbered any excepting an Oriental 
army. 



CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOH. 2G9 

Polk, with the third Confederate battle-hne was now 
engaged with Sherman. The latter fought stoutly, making 
the most of the tangled ravines that fronted each new 
position. He poured increasing volleys upon his assail- 
ants ; more than once checking them. But gathering fury 
with each new onset, his steadfast assailants would not 
be kept at bay, and with each hour drove their enemies 
nearer the river. It was as late as 9 a.m. that W. H. 
L.Wallace's division became involved in the battle. His 
men, trained by C. F. SmitlV and hardened by Donelson, 
were fought with conspicuous courage, but by noon the 
whole Federal line, including Stuart's brigade on the ex- 
treme right, had been driven back within a mile of the 
river. There the greatly intermixed commands made a 
stand where the remains of their artillery were massed. 

The Confederates, too, had become greatly disorgan- 
ized and disarranged, owing to the nature of the ravines 
and thickets through which they advanced. Although 
bent upon pressing the enemy, their attacks lacked har- 
monious propulsion by their corps commanders. In- 
stead of occupying themselves with the concentration 
and continuous projection of their men andartilleryupon 
the shattered Federal divisions, these officers pressed 
forward personally to the "perilous edge of batde," 
leading brigades and even regiments to the charge. 
They inspired them, no doubt, with their own personal 
conduct, but they might have been far better employed 
in gathering and throwing proper masses against their 
tottering, demoralized foe. 

General Johnston had repeatedly stimulated per- 
sonally the onset, especially on the extreme Confed- 
erate right, where a stubborn resistance was made by 

' The accomplished instructor in tactics and soldiership of so many 
officers on both sides on that field. T. J. 



270 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Stuart's brigade — thus greatly exposing himself — as 
afterwards, when he was mortally wounded. Riding 
across the field at nine o'clock, aiming to join General 
Johnston, I came upon many Confederate troops at a 
halt ; sometimes a regiment or battery, again a brigade 
and once a whole division at ordered-arms, and wholly 
inactive for want of any directions or supervision from 
their superior officers. With the aid of staff-officers 
who had become unable to find their respective chiefs, 
many such troops, by my special directions, were pressed 
into action where the firingr was heaviest. 

At this hour of the conflict, within the hollows and on the 
slopes and ridges of that circumscribed woodland, more 
than sixty thousand muskets were engaged in the dire 
work of carnage. The continuous rattle, roll and roar ; the 
blaze of small arms, the hurtle, shriek of rifle projectiles 
through the trees, the explosion of shells, the louder 
discharges and reverberation of more than a hundred 
cannon, the hoarse, continuous cheers and shouts of the 
contestants, filled every nook of the forest with the 
varied, commingled, savage clamor of the bloodiest of 
modern battles. Meanwhile the sun had dissipated the 
fog of the early morning and shone bright and warm 
througli the young spring foliage. 

General Johnston who, in the early hours of the battle, 
had conducted the movements against Stuart's brigade 
as I have stated, at ii a.m., turned his attention to 
directing Breckenridge's division. It was while thus en- 
gaged that he was mortally wounded. He had just 
launched Bowen's and Statham's brigades with resist- 
less momentum against Hurlburt who, for three- 
quarters of an hour, had checked his progress towards 
the river, and succeeded in pressing him back half a 
mile, but, unhappily, the Confederate corps-commander 



CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOH. 271 

was struck with a rifle ball just below the knee. It would 
seem that Johnston was unconscious of the fast bleeding 
wound he had received, but when Governor Harris, his 
acting- aid-de-camp, returned from delivering an order, he 
noticed that his chief was reeling in his saddle and about 
to fall from his horse. Sustaininof him in his seat while 
leading him to the cover of a ravine, he reached a 
wooded, secluded hollow and lifted the now unconscious 
soldier to the around, where he died without a murmur. 
This was at 2.40 p.m;, but the event was really not known 
to the mass of the Confederate army until night. 

Unaware, myself, of General Johnston's hurt, I reached 
that very quarter of the field soon after he had been struck, 
and found Breckenridge's division halted at ordered arms. 
I was there in search of troops with which to turn that por- 
tion of the Union line which Bragg had been unsuccess- 
fully endeavoring to force back. Therefore I gave the 
order to General Breckenridge, in General Johnston's 
name, to advance, turn and capture certain batteries, the 
position of which I indicated by word and gesture. 

General Breckenridge, clad in a dark jeans blouse and 
surrounded by his staff, sat upon his horse more like an 
equestrian statue than a living man, except for the fiery 
gleam that shot from his dark eyes. Through the open 
forest in his front, a Federal encampment, apparently un- 
occupied, was visible. Farther on was an open field bor- 
dered by a dense thicket. Through the camp and into 
the field beyond his division moved in fine order. At the 
center of the field a hissincr stream of rifle missiles burst 
upon the Confederates, heaping the ground with dead 
and wounded. There was a momentary' check. Ani- 
mated by their officers, they closed up their thin ranks 
and moved forward pressing back the stubborn enemy. 

Beauregard had meanwhile turned his attendon to the 



272 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Federal center, where Wallace and Prentiss were still 
disputing every foot of ground. Concentrating a pow- 
erful force of artillery and infantry, the latter includino- 
battalions of stragglers, he hurled them upon Wallace's 
front and left the latter now exposed by McClernand's 
retrograde movement — bidding them to " go forward and 
drive the enemy into the Tennessee." Wither's brio-ade 
having forced Stuart from the position he had held so 
long and stoudy, now came up opportunely and fell upon 
Hurlburt's left flank which, to avoid being surrounded, 
was compelled to fall back, leaving Prentiss' left flank 
exposed. Wallace's men, too, were giving way ; their 
commander having fallen mortally wounded. Some of 
his men, however, remained with Prentiss, who found 
himself enclosed on all sides. After vainly trying to extri- 
cate himself, he was, at last, obliged to surrender with 
about three thousand officers and men. This was at 
almost six o'clock. 

Colonel Webster, an officer of Grant's staff and com- 
mander of an artillery regiment, observing the increas- 
ing mortal peril of his people, had gathered upon the 
ridge near the landing all the guns he could find, includ- 
ing thirty-two, twenty-four and twenty pounders manned 
by runaways from the front. The remains of field 
batteries were also gathered there until at least fifty guns 
were massed upon that eminence, with a field of fire 
sweeping all approaches to the river. The position was 
strong. Timber and undergrowth gave covert both for 
the guns and their support, while a deep ravine sepa- 
rated it from the table-land which it dominated. Tangled 
brushwood served as a natural abatis to its steep slope 
towards the Confederates. Behind this natural parapet, 
interposed so fortunately for them, the entire Federal 
force left after the capture of Prentiss took refuge, 



CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOH. Tl% 

with the exception of the remains of two of Sher- 
man's brigades, which had drifted off with their gene- 
ral to the immediate vicinity of the bridge across 
Snake Creek, on the road nearly northward in its 
course to Crump's Landing. Not being followed, 
Sherman had established them there undisturbed, 
with his rear open to retreat, in an emergency, 
down the river. Meanwhile, also, or before 6 p. m., 
Ammen's brigade of Nelson's division had been m.arched 
up from Savannah, thrown across the river, and estab- 
lished as a support to Webster's admirably-disposed 
battery, the other supports of which were now energized 
by the knowledge that night, with its shield of darkness 
and ample succor, was at hand. At the same time, two 
Federal gunboats had taken a position in a bend of the 
Tennessee that enabled them to enfilade the front of the 
position, and, in fact, the whole field now in possession 
of the Confederates, with their heavy shot and shells, as 
any map of it will show. This was the situation about 
six o'clock. The sun, however, was disappearing, and 
time was not left to the Confederates to concentrate and 
finish decisively the work of the day. Moreover, for the 
most part, they had been fighting incessantly without 
food for twelve hours, and their empty cartridge-boxes 
needed replenishing. 

From the character of the field, the organization 
of the several corps, divisions and even brigades had 
become so disarraneed and intermixed that none of 
the divisions, and few if any of the brigades, con- 
fronted this last strong Federal position which stood 
between the Confederates and the river. However, a 
number of desultory uncombined offensive efforts to 
carry that position were essayed with unquenched brav- 
ery and no small loss in killed and wounded under the 



274 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

showers of grape and canister from Webster's well- 
planted batteries. It was, indeed, in these disjointed 
charges that the greater part of the loss that day of 
some of the regiments engaged in them occurred. As 
■was to be expected, such fragmentary fighting was as 
sterile as costly. 

In the mean time, convinced of the futility of any 
attempt to prolong the combat after dark with troops 
so newly raised, fatigued and broken in their organ- 
ization as he knew his to be after twelve hours 
of unremitting, laborious work on such a field, Beau- 
regard had dispatched his aides-de-camp with orders 
to the corps commanders to withdraw their men 
from the fire of the Federal gun-boats, and, as far as 
possible, to re-establish their shattered organizations 
and otherwise prepare their commands for completing 
the victory early the next morning. When these orders 
reached the troops, barely time was left for them to find 
encampments near by before pitch darkness had come 
upon them, and where they slept upon their arms after 
breaking their prolonged fast upon the food left by their 
enemy. 

I was, myself, at a point densely wooded, very near to 
the Tennessee River, when the order to retire reached 
the front. The larp^e shells thrown from the ^run-boats 
were tearing and crashing in all directions through the 
heavy forest at the time with a starding, rather than a 
dangerous, effect. Riding leisurely rearward to where I 
understood General Beauregard had established his head- 
quarters near Shiloh chapel, it was my office immediately 
upon dismounting to write the telegraphic report to the 
Confederate autliorities of the day's operations, including 
the death of General Johnston. It was a brief dispatch, yet 
it was dark by the time it was completed. 



CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOH. 275 

I had received on the field by a courier from Corinth, 
a telegram from Colonel Helm to General Johnston, 
to the effect that his scouts in Middle Tennessee 
reported that General Buell was moving toward Deca- 
tur, North Alabama, instead of upon Pittsburg Landing. 
This was good news at such a time, and I handed it to 
the General with pleasure which was not abated later 
on that night even when my enforced guest. General 
Prentiss, very confidently declared that the tables would 
be turned on us the next morning by the arrival of 
the whole of Buell's army during the night. 

On the evening of the 6th, Nelson's two other brig- 
ades had crossed the Tennessee. Crittenden's division, 
brought up from Savannah, forcing its way through the 
stragglers, had established itself by midnight a mile and 
a half in advance of the line on Nelson's right. Lew 
Wallace, unable to find either of two roads to the batde- 
field by the thunder of a hundred cannon within six 
miles of him, under the dusky shadows of night reached 
a position to the south of Snake Creek, commanding the 
bridge, and fortunately for him, near where Sherman 
had rallied the frao^ments of his own and other divi- 
sions. Rousseau's brigade also reached the field before 
sunrise. 

Thus twenty-five thousanci fresh troops were on 
hand, and ready to take the field against the victors of 
the day before. To meet their onset the Confederates 
had not a man who had not fought steadfastly all the 
day before. Sixty-five hundred of those who entered 
the battle were killed and wounded. Thousands had 
straggled. Consequendy less than twenty thousand Con- 
federate infantry could answer to their names that morn- 
ing. The men had slept here and there among the 
encampments, wherever they could find subsistence. 



276 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Polk alone had embodied his corps in some degree, and 
led it at least a mile and a- half beyond Shiloh Chapel, in 
the direction of Corinth. 

In haste to avenge the disaster of Sunday, Grant, 
without awaiting the arrival of Buell's other divisions, 
ordered the offensive to be assumed at dawn. Accord- 
ingl\-, not long after 5 a.m.. Nelson's division boldly 
attacked his skirmishers, engaging with Forrest's cavalry, 
who fell back leisurely upon their supporting infantry, 
which were being formed to the rearward of the camps 
they had occupied at random the night before. Greatly 
fatigued, and almost overcome by the lassitude which 
follows every great exaltation, the battle sounds never- 
theless produced immediate reaction, and they sprang 
into serried ranks with the utmost alacrity, bent upon 
holding what they had won. 

The attacking Federal line had a front of a mile 
and a-half. By 8 o'clock Hardee had massed a 
good part of his own corps and Wlther's division 
of Braoror's in front of Nelson, Crittenden and Mc- 
Cook. Hazen's brigade of Nelson's division pushed 
forward, carried a position and a Confederate batter)'. 
By well-timed concentration he was sent reeling back 
from his prey. An obstinate struggle for the mastery of 
this part of the field lasted until i p.m. Neither side 
gained any material advantage. In Crittenden's front, 
composed of his own division and several thousand of 
Grant's troops under McClernand, the Confederates, at 
first retiring for concentration, rebounded in turn as they 
had done upon Nelson, with as much dash and ardor as 
they had done the day before, and Crittenden was also 
borne back. 

No considerable body of troops had lodged in the 
quarter of the field in front of the positions of Lew 



CONFEDERATE VIEW OF SHILOH. Til 

Wallace and the composite troops under Sherman and 
Hurlburt. Their advance, therefore, was without hind- 
rance until they seized upon a strong wooded ridge, with 
their right resting on Owl Creek. Encouraged by the 
light resistance, they undertook the offensive, but were 
soon greeted by a sheet of flame and shower of bullets 
under which they reeled and receded, followed nearly a 
mile by their adversaries. Here they were reinforced by 
McCook and resumed the offensive. The firing, Sher- 
man says, was the " heaviest musketry " he ever heard. 

Meanwhile another brigade of McCook's had joined in 
the fray, and at this point nearly twent}^ thousand Fede- 
rals were opposed to not one-half their numbers. Be- 
fore such odds the impetus of the Confederate attack 
was abated, yet several brilliant charges were made, one 
of which General Beauregard himself led, carrying the 
battle-flag of a Louisiana regiment to gradfy the men. 
Trabue's brio-ade, having- carried an eminence near Owl 
Creek, repulsed every effort to retake it, and held the 
position until the final retreat was ordered. 

The batde, kindled soon after daylight, had now raged 
from rioht to left more than five hours. It was now one 

o 

o'clock, and the Confederates, despite the odds of fresh 
troops constandy arrayed against them, had not really 
receded from the ground upon which they had been con- 
centrated when it became apparent the battle was upon 
their hands. Depleted fearfully with each hour of the 
combat, they were now not more than fifteen thousand 
strong, or ten thousand less than the fresh troops of their 
adversary'. Yet at 2 p.m. Beauregard's headquarters were 
still those from which Sherman had been driven the morn- 
ing before, and all his forces were nearer the river than the 
line first occupied by Sherman and Prendss. 

With such heavy odds in the balance as Buell's splen- 



278 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

did divisions, the fortunes of the day could not much 
longer be doubtful. General Beauregard soon afterward 
ordered me to select a position in the rear, and there es- 
tablish a sufficient force, including artiller}-, independently 
of those in action, to cover the retreat. Staff officers 
were sent to each corps commander, including General 
Breckenridge, with orders to retire immediately from 
their present positions, but ready to face about and renew 
the battle if followed too closely. Thus at 2 p.m. the 
Confederate army began to leave the field, a movement 
executed with the steadiness of veterans of a hundred 
battles. 

The Union army remained in possession of the field 
w'renched from the Confederates by the arrival of Buell's 
fresh and well-trained army, but their adversary carried 
away thirty odd captured pieces of artillery, wuth more 
than twenty regimental and national flags and three 
thousand prisoners. 

This Confederate story of Shiloh is contributed by 
General Thomas Jordan. From his position as adjutant- 
general of the combined forces operating against General 
Grant, it should be high authority. It is a clear account 
of the two days' fighting from the Southern view. This 
officer was so placed as to be thoroughly cognizant of 
everything which bore on the Confederate fortunes ot 
the struggle, and his narrative is a very interesting one. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 

Shiloh's lessons — Politics in war — Halleck assumes immediate command — Three 
armies concentrated — One hundred and twenty thousand men — Campaign of picks 
and shovels — Six weeks moving fifteen miles — The investors awaiting attack — 
Corinth evacuated without a struggle — Quaker guns — The enemy tardily pursued — 
Disgust of the army — Buell sent to Chattanooga —Pope takes command of the 
Army of the Potomac — Grant left at Corinth — The battles of luka and Corinth — 
Holding his own against Van Dorn and Price — Influence regained. 

The victory at Shiloh was of very great moment to 
the nation. It gave notice to both North and South 
that the civil strife was to be something more than a 
dress parade. It was notice to those who wore the blue 
and to the country behind them, that they had entered 
upon a contest in which they were to meet men tho- 
roughly saturated with anger, and a people back of them 
prepared to make any sacrifice. It was also the first 
notice of importance given to those who wore' the gray 
of the unyielding stubbornness and dauntless courage 
of the Northern men in battle. In other words it was 
the first test of fortitude and endurance between men of 
a common nationality which aroused both sides to the 
fact that men of equal prowess were on either side. 
This awakening was a rude shock to both contestants, 
but especially to the South, and the result at Shiloh was 
a source of immense discouraofement to the Confede- 
rates. They had rallied all the troops they could gather 
in the West, and brought two of their most conspicuous 
generals to lead them. Men in citizens' dress hastened 
from the large cities to fight. The army so created and 
perfectly confident, marched from Corinth, intending to 

279 



280 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

overwhelm Grant before Buell could make a junction 
with him. The Confederates had been led to believe 
that this would be comparatively an easy matter, and 
when the battle opened they had no thought but that 
before night they would drive Grant's entire army into 
the Tennessee. The failure to do so taught them a 
severe but useful lesson, which had a most depressing 
effect, not only in the West and Southwest, but at Rich- 
mond and throughout the Confederacy. 

Shiloh, fought by Beauregard for the protection of 
Corinth, the centre of the second line of defenses projec- 
ted by the Confederate generals, practically gave them a 
two months' respite from the hazards of battle. The 
story of that conflict spread so slowly through the 
North that it was weeks before it became assuredly 
known that a great victory had been won, and not a 
great defeat sustained. Ever}- soldier in his home cor- 
respondence described the battle as he saw it in the nar- 
row scope in which he fought. Such tales of desper- 
ate encounters, bloody repulses, flying regiments and 
batteries, and panic-stricken men, amplified by the 
damaging gossip of the camps, finding acceptance in 
local newspapers, came to be regarded as the authentic 
history of the dreadful struggle. 

The people had not yet learned that a private soldier, 
a subaltern officer, or even a brii^ade-commander saw 
little and knew less of a c^reat enora<;j-ement. The testi- 
mony that they might furnish, or any opinions they 
might give in relation to movements of which they were 
technically ignorant, was accepted by the loved ones at 
home as true, and retailed to the neighbors. In many 
instances, this misleading gossip was well-meant, but 
in the case of many officers it was malicious. For in 
all armed contests, where new levies are called from 



FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 281 

the ranks of citizenship to do battle, ambitious men with 
strong home influences are constantly pushing them- 
selves and their opinions upon every important happen- 
ing of the camp. In the late civil war this was true in a 
greater degree than in any other ever waged. We had 
been long at peace. The average intelligence of our 
army was high, and often a man in the ranks cut a wider 
swath at home than the officer who commanded him. 
Many of the volunteers did not at first take kindly to the 
rigors of military discipline. Politics played its part in 
the influences which surrounded military movements, 
and the schooling of West Point was not popular, either 
at home or in the army. Thus it was that the President 
was besought to permanently relieve Grant from com- 
mand and substitute some such man as McClernand, 
who had some military capacity, plenty of personal bra- 
very, but more vanity. Even Grant's immediate superi- 
ors, although in a position to know the facts, joined in 
the popular clamor, and on the day after Shiloh, Halleck 
himself started for Pittsburg Landing to assume com- 
mand of Grant's and Buell's united armies. 

Grant had not sat down idly after the battle. Although 
his men had been too tired and his battalions too shat- 
tered to make any effective pursuit at the moment, he had 
sent an expedition under Sherman, accompanied by gun- 
boats, up the river to Eastport, which destroyed the rail- 
road bridge over Big Bear Creek, thus severing direct 
communications between Corinth and Richmond. This 
successful expedition had not returned w^hen Halleck 
arrived, and proceeded to place General Grant in a most 
annoying position of semi-disgrace. He was nominally 
second in command, but with so slight control even over 
his own divisions, that during the next two months he 
had litde to do except condense reports and sign the 



282 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

certificates of soldiers discharged for disability. His 
division commanders frequendy received orders direct 
from Halleck, without the courtesy of informing him. 
His position was generally regarded as one of disgrace, 
but he bore the injustice of his superiors and the slight 
respect of his inferiors with calm patience, working with 
the sini^le purpose of doing his best, and leaving the 
result and his own justification to time, 

Halleck's first step was to employ the resources of his 
department in assembling an overwhelming army. Gen- 
eral John Pope having won some successes in operations 
against fortified positions on the Mississippi, was sum- 
moned to join the armies on the Tennessee. The con- 
centrated forces, now christened the " Grand Army of the 
Tennessee," swelled to nearly one hundred and twenty 
thousand men, was divided into corps, commanded by 
Thomas, Pope, Buell and McClernand. The first and 
the last named were nominally under Grant's immediate 
command, but their corps occupying respectively the 
right and reserve of the investing forces, frequently re- 
ceived orders and made movements of which he knew 
nothing. 

It is easy to recall the gossip of the camp in relation 
to Grant when Pope's army arrived. The most exagger- 
ated stories were afloat in relation to his past and pres- 
ent ; but to the humblest soldier it was well known that 
Grant was resUng under a cloud, without the confidence 
of his superiors or the proper respect from his sub- 
ordinate generals. While recalling these facts, a still 
strong disgust for General Halleck's dilatory operations is 
remembered as a significant part of the prevailing senti- 
ment in that whole army. Could the soldiers have chosen, 
they would much have preferred to have gone on with 
offensive operations under Grant, even after all the 



FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 283 

humiliation that was put upon him, than to have wasted 
weeks in idleness under Halleck. 

The campaign of picks and shovels which Halleck in- 
augurated, after having put the timid heel of his power 
upon Grant, lasted for six weeks, and he doubtless lost 
more men by disease while he spaded his way than would 
have been killed by bullets in a direct assault upon the 
enemy. Every knoll and ravine along the fifteen miles, 
which brought them opposite the defenses of Corinth, 
was dotted with graves. 

The strategic value of Corinth to its defenders was 
derived from its position as the crossing point of the 
Mobile and Ohio and Memphis and Charleston railroads. 
The villao-e, of a few hundred inhabitants, lay upon a low 
plain, but almost surrounded by ridges heavily Umbered, 
and approached through the ravines of valley-streams 
and marshes. Every point of vantage had been fortified 
with all the engineering skill for which Beauregard was 
famous, and heavy ordnance was mounted in redoubts, 
covering every road. 

Between April 2 2d, when Halleck's grand army of over 
one hundred thousand men, resumed its advance, and 
May 8th it had moved forward nine miles. This pheno- 
menal tardiness was measured or brought about by no 
activity of his enemy. Three days after Shiloh even the 
command of Breckenridge, which had covered the retreat 
of the shattered army, was behind the defenses of Co- 
rinth, and only a few scattered parties of cavalry had 
been left to observe the victorious Unionists, whose fail- 
ure to pursue, the Confederate general could hardly 
comprehend. 

Day after day the invading army, after a forward 
movement of a few hundred yards, went into camp, and 
dropping muskets for spades, spent the remainder of the 



284 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

day throwing up great lines of breastwork or digging 
elaborate rifle pits. The timidity of the commander 
happily was never shared by the men, who grumbled 
their dissatisfaction at being made an army of ditchers 
to dig out an enemy, which even exaggerated reports 
did not estimate at more than half their own number. 
Still they dug on, burying by the roadside comrades 
falling hourly under the deadly breath of fever. Spoil- 
ing for a grapple with the eneni)-, whose mettle they had 
tested, the schooling of six months of active warfare had 
made them too good soldiers to be disheartened even by 
what seemed to them cowardice in command. 

The only clashes of arms which rose to the dignity of 
combats took place at Farmington on May 9th, and at 
Russel's house on the extreme right of the line of invest- 
ment on May 27th. General Pope, commanding the left 
of the Union army, had pressed far inside the general 
line of advance, and driven out Marmaduke and four 
thousand Confederates left to defend Farmington, The 
place was of no great advantage to either the besiegers 
or besieged, and Hallcck ordered the withdrawal of a 
brigade of Pope's which had been posted in the village. 
Before they could be withdrawn the enemy massed a 
heavy force, and made a desperate attempt not only to 
drive it out of its position, but began a movement in its 
rear looking to its capture. After a brisk engagement, 
the bricrade was retired with insiirnificant loss. 

The action at Russel's house was a brilliant and suc- 
cessful effort by General Sherman to effect a lodgment 
nearer the enemy's lines, and to drive a brigade of Con- 
federates out of a log-house, from which they were able 
to fire in any direction and seriously annoy the investing 
army. 

A sufficient force, personally directed by General 



FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 285 

Sherman, under cover of a knoll, approached undiscov- 
ered, and by a gallant charge drove the Confederates 
out and pursued them closely half a mile beyond, in- 
flicting heavy loss, while sustaining very litde damage 
themselves. Neither of these actions had evoked from 
the enemy any show of purpose to oppose the siege by 
counter offensive movements. 

On the night of May 28th, the whisding of locomotives 
along the railroads and continuous cheering by the Con- 
federates convinced General Pope that the enemy was 
receivino- heavy reinforcements and meditated an attack 
upon his front. His report to General Halleck was 
followed by an order, dated May 30th, in which Halleck 
announced: " There is every indication that the enemy 
will attack our left this morning," and issued instructions 
to the reserves to be ready to support that end of the 
line. While his magnificent army was drawn up waiting 
for the threatened attack, the early dawn opened upon 
columns of smoke ascending from the quarters lately 
occupied by the Confederates, and explosions of ammu- 
nition warned the Federal general that the stronghold 
was being hastily evacuated. Orders were given to ad- 
vance and feel the enemy, which movement resulted in 
discovering that Beauregard was retreadng with all 
speed southward, leaving only a few cavalry as a rear 
ouard to observe any possible movements in pursuit. 
Beauregard, as orders discovered amply attested, had 
been making preparadons for the retrograde movement 
since May 9th, and had only made a show of defending 
Corinth, while he prepared a strong posidon further 
south to constitute his third line of defense and withdraw 
the invading army still further from its base of supplies. 
Wooden guns were found mounted on many of the sup- 
posed strong fordfications, and one of the most magnifi- 



286 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

cent of armies, half disheartened and still more dis- 
gusted, walked in and took possession. Nearly two 
months had been consumed in this defensive sort of 
campaign just at the season of the year when that 
southern country', its roads and waters, were at their 
ver)^ best for military operations. Nothing except the 
capture of a few wooden guns, and the occupation of a 
place that might have been taken at any time before, 
had been accomplished. 

A small Federal force, sent in pursuit of the retreat- 
ing armv, followed as far as Tuscumbia Bridge, which had 
been burned. An effort was indeed made to pursue in 
force. Nearly seventy thousand men, under Pope and 
Buell, followed out of sight of the v.-eak rear guard, mov- 
ino- as leisurely as possible in the direction of Booneville. 
Although they found the route of the retreating army 
strewn with arms, accoutrements, damaged caissons and 
other evidences of a demoralized force, their march of 
thirty miles in two days did not bring them near enough 
the enemy to exchange picket shots. Beauregard had 
escaped unhurt from an army of twice the size of his 
own. 

During an early portion of the investment. General 
Grant, becominor satisfied that the fortifications in front 
of Sherman and Thomas were defective, suggested an 
assault to General Halleck. The commanding general 
responded so tardy, intimating that Grant had better 
reserve his opinions until they were asked for, that the 
latter did not again obtrude his advice. After the evac- 
uation he rode through the Confederate fortifications at 
the point he had deemed exposed, and found his opin- 
ions amply sustained. If an attack had been made ac- 
cording to his suggesdon no doubt was left in his mind 
that it would have been successful and the long, harass- 



FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 287 

ing and deadly campaign in the Mississippi bottoms about 
Vicksburg would have been avoided by the destruction 
of the Confederate army right there at Corinth. 

Grant had remained under a cloud during all these 
operations, and, although he bore the ordeal with un- 
complaining patience, there is no doubt that he contem- 
plated asking at least present relief, if not retirement 
from the army. General Sherman, in his memoirs, re- 
lates this circumstance, confirmatory of the fact that such 
was Grant's purpose. "A short time before leaving 
Corinth I rode from my camp to General Halleck's 
headquarters, then in tents just outside of the town. He 
mentioned to me, casually, that Grant was going away 
next morning. I inquired the cause, and he said that he 
did not know, but that Grant had applied for a thirty days 
leave, which had been given him. Of course we all 
knew that he was chafing under the slights of his anom- 
alous position, and I determined to see him on my way 
back. His camp was a short distance off the Monterey 
road, in the woods, and consisted of four or five tents, 
with a sapling railing In front. As I rode up Majors 
Rawlins, Lagow and Hillyer were In front of the camp 
and piled up near them were the usual office and camp 
chests all ready for a start in the morning. I was shown 
to the General's tent, where I found him seated on a 
camp-stool, with papers on a rude camp-table, assorting 
letters. I asked him If It were true that he was going 
away. He said ' yes.' I asked the reason, and he said : 
' Sherman, you know. You know that I am in the way 
here. I have stood It as long as I can, and can endure 
It no longer.' I inquired where he was going, and he 
said ' St. Louis.' I asked him If he had any business 
there, and he replied * not a bit' I then begged him to 
stay, illustrating his case by my own. Before the battle 



288 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of Shiloh I had been cast down by a mere newspaper 
assertion of 'crazy;' Ixit that a single battle had given 
me new life, and now I was in high feather. I argued 
with him that if he went away events would go right 
alono- and he would be left out, whereas if he remained 
some happy accident might restore liim to favor and his 
true place. He certainly appreciated my friendly advice 
and promised to wait a while, at all events not to go 
without communicating with me. Soon after I received a 
note from him saying he had reconsidered his intentions 
and would remain. In my reply to his note I wrote ' I am 
rejoiced at your conclusion to remain, for you could not 
be quiet at home a week with the armies moving, and 
rest could not relieve your mind of the gnawing sensa- 
tion that injustice had been done you.' " The admiradon 
for, confidence and loyalty to each other of Grant and 
his great lieutenant form one of the most touching and 
uncommon incidents of this or any other great contest. 

Fort Pillow was evacuated and Memphis was aban- 
doned by the Confederates as the result of a great naval 
eneaeement on the Mississippi verv soon after Beaure- 
o-ard had been duof out of Corinth. It was June loth 
when the fruitless pursuit of the retreadng Confederate 
army was abandoned and Halleck sat down and scat- 
tered the great army gathered to no purpose. Buell, 
with a batde line seventy thousand strong, was sent to- 
wards Chattanooga, but Bragg got there first although 
he started last. Sherman was ordered to Memphis. 
Pope very soon after was transferred to the Eastern 
army, and Grant, with litde more than a shadow of his 
old army, was left nominally in command of the District 
of West Tennessee. 

Even after Beauregard had escaped from Corinth, Hal- 
leck was left with an army large enough to have overrun 



FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 289 

the Mississippi Valley and to have crushed any force that 
could have been brouo-ht aq^alnst him. It was also in 
splendid trim for the capture of Vicksburg, whose fortifi- 
cations, incomplete at that time, would have attracted the 
attention of any general who had confidence in himself 
and any considerable number of troops behind him. Any 
one of half a dozen movements that frequently suggested 
themselves to General Grant could have been success- 
fully made, to the great benefit of the Union cause, by 
that splendid array of men Halleck had gathered and 
equipped, only to move about with such caution as would 
have befitted the commander of a brigade in the presence 
of an overwhelming force of the enemy. But none of them 
were undertaken, and, fooled by the Confederates at 
Corinth, the army was broken up and began a series of 
minor campaigns which were comparatively fruitless, as 
measured by what might have been done. 

Looking back at the condition of affairs in the Missis- 
sippi valley after the evacuation of Corinth, it is easy to 
see how many thousand lives and how much difficulty 
might have been saved had a man been in command of 
the army at that time \\\\o believed in offensive rather 
than defensive movements, and would have followed up 
the advantages which the batde of Shiloh and the con- 
centradon of troops afterwards placed in his hands. The 
occupation of Corinth interrupted Confederate communi- 
cations, and that w^as all. It never presented another 
advantage, and not long after was handed over to a 
small force, and the larger operations further South were 
begun. The whole of June and a part of July were 
frittered away by Halleck, and then he was appointed 
General-in-chief of the armies and summoned to Wash- 
ington. In making his preparations for leaving, he took 

He offered the command 



290 LIFE OF GENERA-L GRANT. 

of the Army of the Tennessee to Colonel Robert Allen, 
then a quartermaster on his staff, and only left Grant in 
command of it because Allen declined the promotion. 

General Allen himself, in July, 1866, writes this ac- 
count of the tender: "I had joined General Halleck a 
short time subsequent to the fall of Corinth and was 
attached to his immediate command, when he received 
his appointment of General-in-chief, with orders to repair 
at once to Washington. Shortly after he came to my 
tent. After a somewhat protracted conversadon, he 
turned to me and said, ' Now what can I do iox: you?' I 
replied that I did not know he could do anything. ' Yes,' 
he rejoined, ' I can give you comm.and of this army.' I 
replied, ' I have not rank.' ' That,' he said, • can be easily 
obtained.' I do not remember exactly what my reply 
was to this, but it was to the effect that I doubted the 
expediency of such a measure, identified as I was with 
the enormous business and expenditures of the quarter- 
master's department, from which it was almost impracti- 
cable to relieve me at this time. Other reasons were 
mendoned, and he did not press the subject. It is true 
that I was congratulated on the prospect of succeeding 
to the command, before I had mendoned the subject of 
this interview." 

When Halleck could not succeed in placing a still 
broader indignity upon Grant, he directed him to make 
his headquarters at Corinth, and then left for Washing- 
ton. Here Grant remained for two months simply 
watching the enemy, keeping open his communications 
with Sherman at Memphis and defending the railroads 
which run in various directions from this strategic point. 
.Sherman was not under his command, but rt'ceived his 
orders direct from Halleck. Probably no officer of the 
army ever performed more harassing and thankless duty 



FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 291 

than Grant did at this period. He was forced to act 
upon tlie defensive, which, to a man of his ideas of 
offensive warfare, must have been particularly annoying. 
The Confederate force menacing him was fully equal to 
his own in numbers, and they were constantly threatening 
Corinth, Bolivar and Jackson, Tenn. He concentrated all 
the forces he could spare from guarding the railroads 
and rivers in his department in these three places, 
then remodeled and strengthened the works about 
Corinth. 

While all this was going on, Halleck was having 
plenty of difficulties in the East and Buell was doing no 
better in the West with his magnificent army. One 
general officer after another was failing to do anything 
significant, and there was great despondency throughout 
the country. Grant's army had been weakened to re- 
enforce Buell, and in the wide theatre of defeat and 
retreat, Grant was almost forgotten in Corinth, and 
practically left to shift for himself. 

Pope had lost the second Bull Run, and the Confeder- 
ates were threatening to invade Maryland, while Bragg 
and Buell were on a neck and neck race to see which 
would reach the Ohio first. Menaced on all sides, short 
of troops, forced to a sleepless anxiety that would have 
made most men petulant, Grant watched and manoeu- 
vred his slender forces without a murmur and without 
making the never ending demand of most generals for 
more men. With an ever vigilant eye for operations 
in the field and while sorely perplexed, he discovered 
that Van Dorn was sending a part of his command 
under Price to re-enforce Bragg in Kentucky. He 
immediately notified Halleck of this movement and also 
of his intention to prevent it. He encouraged his chief, 
who seemed depressed by the information, with the 



292 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

declaration that he could successfully resist any force 
that could be brought against him. 

Perhaps at no time of Grant's life did he show to bet- 
ter advantage than in this campaign while in Corinth 
practically ignored. Whatever he did or said was lost 
sight of in the greater movements being made by Buell 
in the West and Pope and McClellan in the East. Yet, 
knowing that he held any command only by sufferance, 
he uncomplainingly maintained his position and was con- 
stantly on the lookout for the enemy in his department, 
so far as they might affect the general operations of the 
armies. He was loyal to Halleck, although suffering an 
injustice at his hands to which few men have ever been 
subjected. 

The battle of luka was the result of this movement of 
Price toward Braorcr. Grant sent Rosecrans from his 
position a few miles south of Corinth, and Ord from 
Bolivar and Jackson, with the expectation of uniting the 
two forces and destroying Price before Van Dorn could 
attack Corinth, if he should attempt to do so. 

There was some delay in Rosecrans' march. He did 
not reach the vicinity of the enemy until September 19th, 
and then was struck unawares some two miles from luka 
where he lost a battery and some seven hundred men in 
killed and wounded. The wind blowing hard had pre- 
vented Ord from hearing Rosecrans' guns on the south, 
which was to be his signal for attack on the north. So 
darkness came on leaving Rosecrans holding his own after 
a most stubborn resistance, and ready to renew the bat- 
tle in the morning, with Ord fully apprised and prepared 
to strike at dawn. Price finding himself between two 
fires, by Grant's plan of batde, began a precipitate re- 
treat during the night, and when Grant reached luka next 
morning at 9 o'clock Price was so faraway that he could 



FROM SHILOH TO CORINTH. 293 

not be overtaken. The battle of luka, therefore, was with- 
out other result than a Confederate loss of fourteen hun- 
dred and the disturbance of Van Dorn's plans to reinforce 
Bragg. Nevertheless it was a gallant fight, in which Rose- 
crans handled his troops with great skill and bravery. 
After this engagement Grant moved his headquarters to 
Jackson, where he could watch the operations in his 
department with greater facility. Rosecrans occupied 
Corinth and Ord Bolivar. Troops were still being taken 
from Grant and sent to other generals, but he did not 
complain, for on October ist, he wired Halleck, "My 
position is precarious, but I hope to get out of it all right." 
About this time Grant discovered by the enemy's move- 
ments that he was about to attack some one of the many 
points he had to defend, and on October 2d a large 
Confederate force under Van Dorn appeared in front 
of Corinth. Rosecrans moved out to meet the ap- 
proaching force, and on the third they had a severe 
battle and he was driven back to his defences. Grant's 
work on these fortifications was now appreciated at 
its full value, for on the morning of the fourth, when 
Van Dorn attacked with the prestige of success on the 
first day, the fighting became furious. The forts were 
the important obstacles that prevented the Confederates 
from capturing that important strategic point, the railroad 
centre of all that region. The morning of the fourth 
opened with Price conducting operations on the right 
center. Van Dorn commanded the assault upon our 
left. The Confederate attack was fierce and determined, 
but the Federal resistance was resolute beyond descrip- 
tion. As the assailants moved forward to the attack the 
light and heavy artillery mowed them down with grape 
and canister. Staggered and torn, the fury of the assault 
was broken for the moment, but the lull was only the 



294 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

prelude to the greater storm. Closing up and steadying 
themselves, they start for the last and most determined 
charge. The double-shotted guns poured down upon them 
a shower of deadly missiles, and at an opportune moment 
the cry of " charge ! men," rang out above the din of the 
horrid strife. The Federals swarm over their works and 
chase the heroic stormers, in confusion, to the woods. 
Many were killed and still more were taken prisoners, but 
the batde of Corinth was practically over. In the midst 
of the contest IMcPherson came up with a brigade, and by 
a brilliant movement marched from \^an Dorn's rear to 
Rosecrans" right, but the batde was fairly won before he 
arrived. At ii o'clock the Confederates were in full 
retreat with a loss of more than five thousand men. 

About ten miles from Corinth, on die morning of the 
5th while crossing the Hatchie, the retreaUng force was 
struck on the flank by Hurlburt and Ord and the victor}' 
was made complete. While Grant was not in actual 
command on the field at either luka or Corinth, he yet 
directed die movement of the troops. He was also the 
spirit and purpose of the campaign diat broke the only hos- 
tile force in his department, prevented the reinforcement 
of Bragg and gave better tone to the general feeling 
which was very much depressed by defeats elsewhere. 
Yet he was given no great credit for what he had done, 
but Halleck seems to have been aroused to a degree of 
respect for die good work, and soon thereafter began 
sending him reinforcements. This gave him better heart. 
The cloud that had hung over him so long was in a meas- 
ure dispelled. Rosecrans was made a major-general and 
sent awa^y to command the army of the Cumberland, and 
before October ist. Grant, ever watchful for a good place 
to strike, suggested to Halleck the capture of Vicksburg, 
and, let loose, he again began the real business of war. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MOVING TOWARD VfCKSBURG. 

Pembcrt n confronting Grant — Campaigning at a distance — Grant moving down the 
Mississippi Central — McClernand s ambitious schemes — Movmg t >ward the 'lalla- , 
hatchie — "I can handle them without gloves" — Holly Springs taken — Hovey's 
successful diversion — Abbeville evacuated — Within eighteen miles of Grenada — 
Grant's communications cut — Murphy's cowardly surrender — Living on the enemy 
The campaign defeated— Grant's only retreat. 

It took a good deal of tough grubbinfj before Grant 
reached a substantial foothold. His innate modesty of 
demeanor and repugnance to self-assertion made his 
superiors undervalue his talents. The treatment he re- 
ceived at the hands of those above liim bred in the 
officers below him a feeling of slight respect. They were 
taught to look upon him as a dull, good-natured man, 
who had blundered into one or two successes, but was 
of no particular consequence. Therefore, neither those 
below nor above him paid any particular attention to his 
opinions, and treated him as a man to be tolerated but 
not to be feared. Perhaps this may have been the 
natural consequence of the entire absence in him of 
those ostentatious qualities of mind and manner that 
have been conspicuous in every other great soldier since 
the world began. It was up-hill business for him to 
demonstrate that the highest gifts of military act and 
control would fit the simple character ol an unassuming 
citizen. More pretentious generals, with far less ability, 
crowded over the man who was. in his own homely way, 
to teach military scientists that the. rules of war as taught 
in the books could, nearly every day. be violattti with 
success. It is true that more prctenticnis men, without 
290 



MOVING TOWARD VICKSBURG. 297 

a tithe of his ability, did crowd over him while he was 
making these things manifest. But in time effort brought 
success, and he forced all to recognize the high value of 
common sense in the conduct of military operations, un- 
til at last he leaped far over the trained theorists — men 
" whose mitered brains could not teach and would not 
learn." 

The Shiloh campaign ended with the battle by which 
Van Dorn was defeated in his efforts to drive Rosecrans 
out of Corinth. Then, as he began to get reinforce- 
ments. Grant devised the campaign into the interior of 
Mississippi, with Vicksburg as the goal of his efforts. 
Pemberton had succeeded Van Dorn in command of the 
opposing forces, and was gathering all the men he could 
on the Tallahatchie, at a point beyond Holly Springs, 
Mississippi. 

The Federal commander's general design was to 
operate upon the line of the Mississippi Central Rail- 
road, as far south as Grenada and Jackson, from which 
point he could menace the rear of Vicksburg and com- 
pel its evacuation. 

On October 25th, 1862, after Pope's Second Bull Run 
and McClellan's victory at Antietam, Grant assumed 
command of the Department of the Tennessee, which 
included all that country south of Cairo and between the 
Mississippi and the Tennessee Rivers, as well as the State 
of Mississippi. The very next day he proposed to begin 
business by suggesting to Halleck the destruction of the 
railroads centering at Corinth, and abandoning the place 
for a movement down the Mississippi Central Railroad. 
In closing this proposition to the General-in-Chief, he 
evinced his singleness of purpose in its conclusion. " I 
am ready, however, to do with all my might whatever 
you may direct, without criticism." Receiving no answer 



298 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

from Halleck he began the proposed movement, and on 
November 2d telegraphed him from Jackson, " I have 
commenced a movement on Grand Junction with three 
divisions from Corinth and two from BoHvar." 

Pemberton's advance was at this time as far north as 
Lagrange and Grand Junction, and stretched south to 
his fortified position on the Tallahatchie. After Gr^nt 
had started, Halleck gave qualified approval of his plans 
just as he had seized La Grange and Grand Junction. 
He, however, was compelled to retain his hold on 
Corinth and like points, inasmuch as the General-in- 
Chief had not given permission to abandon diem. On 
the 8th Grant countermanded his order to Sherman for 
a demonstration from Mem.phis, which had been a 
feature in his plan of co-operation, becaus.e, as he noti- 
fied his lieutenant, he felt "able to handle without 
gloves" the thirty thousand of the enemy, whom he had 
discovered in front of him. 

As all this was transpiring new complications were fes- 
tering at Washington. McClernand, who from the begin- 
ing of his campaign under Grant at Belmont had been 
restive under discipline, and clamorous for promotion, 
was now in Washington seeking to supplant Grant in 
the command of the Army of the Tennessee. He had 
been a member of Congress before entering the army, 
was a personal friend of Lincoln and possessed large influ- 
ence in the West. He so impressed himself upon the 
President that he obtained authority from him to raise 
troops for an independent expedition, designed to open 
the Mississippi river and capture X'icksburg. Halleck, 
who was a thorough soldier, made a stand against IMcClcr- 
nand's assumptions and was now for the lirst time since 
his first rc-lalions with ( "irant, thoroughly arousctl to his 
support. 1 le took positive ground against any such inde- 



MOVING TOWARD VICKSBURG. 299 

pendent movement in Grant's department, but was over- 
ruled bv the President, and McClernand left Washineton 
for the West in high feather. 

Grant knew nothing of all this, and was preparing to 
drive the enemy south of the Tallahatchie. He was expect- 
ing reinforcements, and on the 9th telegraphed Halleck, 
" If they do not come in more rapidly I will attack as I 
am." The next day he wired again, " Am I to under- 
stand that I lie here still, while an expedition 's fitted out 
from Memphis? Or do you want me to push as far south 
as possible? Am I to have Sherman subject to my orders, 
or is he and his force reserved for some special service ?" 
Halleck now stirred by the fear of McClernand's success 
with the President rises to the occasion and telegraphs 
Grant, " You have command of all troops sent to your 
Department, and have permission to fight the enemy 
when you please." This was on the 12th, and on the 
13th his cavalry entered Holly Springs, and the enemy 
was driven south of the Tallahatchie. In his relief and 
satisfaction at being released and given authority to 
command his department as he pleased he telegraphed 
Sherman, "I have now complete control of my depart- 
ment." In the same telegram he directs Sherman to 
move south toward the Tallahatchie to co-operate with 
him and shows his purpose by adding, "I am exceedingly 
anxious to do something before the roads get bad, and 
before the enemy can entrench and reinforce." 

On November 29th, Grant's cavalry entered Holly 
Springs, his move thither having met no opposition 
worth recording. Sherman, with three divisions from 
Memphis, had already reached the Tallahatchie at 
Wyatt, and Grant telegraphed Halleck, "Our troops 
will be in Abbeville to-morrow or a battle will be fought." 
At this time Pemberton's army occupied a strongly 



300 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

fortified position near that place, and the Union com- 
mander had projected a flanking movement by which he 
hoped to drive out tlie Confederates without the loss of 
life that a direct assault would entail. As part of this 
general plan a division from Helena, Arkansas, had been 
ordered to operate against the Mississippi Central in 
Pemberton's rear. Generals Hovey and Washburne, 
who commanded this expedition, succeeded so well that, 
although the damage they did to the railroad was but 
slight, nevertheless, Pemberton hastily abandoned his 
strong position and took up another behind the Yalla- 
busha river, some miles further south. Owing to the con- 
dition of the roads the forces in pursuit of his retiring 
column only got near enough to him to bring on some 
unimportant skirmishes. 

Grant had now penetrated far into the hostile terri- 
tory, and supplies for his army had to be brought over 
the single line of railroad which he repaired and recon- 
structed as he advanced. This necessarily made his 
movements slow, but, on December '^d., he informed Ad- 
miral Porter, " Our move has been successful so far as 
compelling the evacuation of the Mississippi Central road 
as far as Grenada." Pemberton hitherto had employed 
Fabian tactics, and never made a stand that seriously de- 
tained the Union army. 

Grenada, although- one of the objective points of the 
campaign, was not reached by Grant, His education 
had not attained the point of subsisting his army upon 
the country through which he marched. Although he 
had long contemplated this as a most efficient means of 
weakening the enemy, he had not yet become convinced 
that foragers could be made entirely satisfactory substi- 
tutes for commissaries. Moreover, political considera- 
tions forbade such despoiling of non-combatants. Al- 



MOVING TOWARD VICKSBURG. 301 

though all the natives, save the negroes, were bitterly 
hostile, there was still much of the sentiment that would 
treat all, save those found with arms in their hands, as 
errino- brethren whom it would be the height of cruelty 
to despoil of their meal and bacon excepting under the 
most urgent military necessity. Just this exigence arose 
and altered the face of the campaign. 

Pemberton's flying army had been pursued from Abbe- 
ville as far as Oxford in spite of the terrible roads, and 
on December 5th the Union cavalry were only eighteen 
miles from Grenada. A movement down the river 
against Vicksburg by the forces of Sherman and those 
at Helena, Arkansas, he thought, must result in success 
if he could press closely enough upon Pemberton to pre- 
vent him from reinforcing that stronghold. He therefore 
wired Halleck, " How far South would you like me to go ? 
Would it not be well to hold the enemy south of the 
Yallabusha and move a force from Helena and Memphis 
on Vicksburg ? With my present force it would not be 
prudent to go beyond Grenada and attempt to hold 
present line of communication." 

Halleck gave his consent, and Sherman's three divi- 
sions were sent back to Memphis with all speed, to em- 
bark there for the mouth of the Yazoo, which had been 
selected as the base of his operations against the great 
Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi. At Helena 
the expedition was reinforced by the troops there posted, 
and an army of forty thousand men under command of 
General Sherman was ready for its winter campaign in 
the Mississippi bottoms. Grant had hoped that while he 
held Pemberton pinned in his front near Grenada, Sher- 
man's army would be able to take Vicksburg in the rear 
and capture it without difficulty. If foiled in this by any 
misadventure he could at least establish some base upon 



302 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the Yazoo, from which the army campaigning- in the in- 
terior could be suppHed to better advantage than was 
offered by the long line of the Mississippi Central Rail- 
road. Moreover, New Orleans had fallen, and Halleck 
had promised that an army under Banks moving thence 
up the river, should co-operate in the complete conquest 
of the States adjacent and destruction of the Confederate 
forces defending them. 

Even as late as December 14th, Grant felt confi- 
dent that his part of the grand operations would be 
crowned with success. Pemberton's men, harassed in 
flanks and front by the Union cavalry, were still on the 
run. His last retreat, however, had been brought about 
by Hovey and Washburn's raid on his communications 
and base at Grenada. As soon as he felt satisfied that 
their forces had returned to Helena he regained confi- 
dence, and devised operations against Grant's rear and 
communications, which were crowned with success 
through the cowardice of a Federal colonel, R. C. 
Murphy. After every advance, Grant had left adequate 
forces to protect the railroad upon which he depended 
for supplies. 

Murphy was in command of tlic force which garrisoned 
Holly Springs. On the morning of December 20th, a 
strong force of Confederates swooped down upon the 
town, and Murphy surrendered without an effort to 
defend his trust. The place was important, because 
Grant had made it a secondary depot, and had gathered 
there large quantities of commissary, quartermaster, and 
ordnance stores. Every other point on the line of com- 
munications was defended with success, but Murphy's 
cowardice defeated the object of the campaign. 

A wholly new complication confronted the Federal 
commander. I le had really been provisioning his army 



MOVING TOWARD VICKSBURG. 



CO. 



from Holly Springs, and the new problem of living on 
the country had to be solved at once. Fortunately, he 
was in a populous district that had hitherto been spared 
the waste of war. He could read the importance of the 
blow in the eyes of the Mississippi gendewomen who hith- 
erto glowering and sulking in distant reserve now 
crowded around his headquarters and the cantonments of 




grant's headquarters near VICKSBURG. 

liis troops to gloat over his speedy retreat which they 
deemed assured. 

" How will you feed your troops now ? " they asked 
with ill-concealed triumph. 

" ]\Iy troops will not want as long as there is corn in 
your granaries and bacon in your smoke houses," was 
the quiet response. 

" But you would not make war on non-combatants? " 
they rejoined in dismay. 

"My army must and shall live," was the firm response, 



304 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and the smiling was turned to cursing when the Federal 
foragers levied requisitions wherever they could find the 
needed supplies, with which the country was found to be 
abundantly stocked. Still, Grant had no military prece- 
dent to lead him to believe that an army could be so sub- 
sisted, and he made preparations to fall back. He had 
already been a full week without communication with any 
of the other generals who were in charge of the co-opera- 
tive movements. This circumstance, much less than any 
prospective hunger of his men, led to the retrograde move- 
ment which placed Grant again at La Grange. He after- 
wards came to believe that if he had persisted in the origi- 
nal plan of campaign despite the interruption of his com- 
munications, he could have captured \'icksburg before 
spring. Commanded as the Confederate army was and 
disheartened by its punishing defeats every time it had 
met the Army of the Tennessee, he even then felt that 
its opposition v/as the least of the obstacles to be over- 
come. The day that his advance entered the strong for- 
tifications about Abbeville on the Tallahatchie, he was 
convinced that Pemberton did not mean to fight if he 
could get out of it. Operating against Vicksburg by 
way of Grenada and Jackson, had commended itself 
to Grant because it had enabled him to fully cover 
Memphis from the danger of any rapidly executed move- 
ment by Bragg from Middle Tennessee and presented 
in every respect the most advantageous approach to 
Vicksburg, 

While these events were transpiring with the land 
army, Sherman had prepared for the river movement 
with all possible dispatch. On the day after Murphy 
disgracefully surrendered Holly Springs, a fleet of trans- 
ports containing Sherman's army of forty-two thousand 
men steamed down the river. He confidently expected 



MOVING TOWARD VICKSBURG. 805 

with the aid of Admiral Porter's gun-boats, to be able to 
surprise and capture Vicksburg. Should this prove im- 
practicable it was his purpose to take Haines' Bluff on 
the Yazoo and make it a base not only for his own op- 
erations but for the supply by way of that river of 
Grant's army operating in the interior. On December 
27th the army debarked at Johnson's Landing on the 
Yazoo, within easy striking distance of Haines' Bluff, 
which is the northern extremity of the long lines of 
bluffs upon which Vicksburg lies. Their rugged heights 
were crowded with every defensive work that engineer- 
inof skill could devise, Alonor the outer base of the hills 
flowed the Cypress Bayou, a deep and muddy lagoon 
which made an almost impassable ditch in front of the 
defences. The flat lands along the front were covered 
with water and impracticable for infantry except along 
two narrow causeways. Despite these difficulties which 
prevented Sherman from using more than half his force, 
the works were attacked on December 29th with such 
success that his men effected a lodgment at the foot of 
the bluffs. The success, however, was only temporary, 
as the advanced line was speedily driven back with 
heavy loss. Another attempt was made to land further 
up the Yazoo, and with the aid of the gunboats attack 
the extreme right of the Confederate works. If this 
had been successful the object of opening the Yazoo for 
the supplying of Grant's army would have been accom- 
plished. A dense fog delayed the projected attack be- 
fore daylight, and when it rose the garrison was found to 
have been heavily reinforced and the attempt was aban- 
doned. The reinforcements consisted of a portion of 
Pemberton's army which had been thrown into Vicksburg 
as soon as Grant's retreat to La Grange relieved from 
pressure the army in his front. Thus the object of the 



306 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

movement was defeated, and Sherman re-embarking his 
men dropped down the Yazoo and to its mouth where 
he was met by McClernand, who exhibited the orders au- 
thorizing him to command the army. He had lost 1748 
men in killed, wounded and missing. 

This defeat was a source of great chagrin to Sherman. 
It had been attended with many difficulties which had not 
been foreseen. It could only have been made successful 
by the success of all the co-operative movements of 
which it was but a part. The others had alike failed. 
Banks' promised movement up the river from New Or- 
leans had been fruitless. Grant himself had made his 
first retreat, not, however, from an armed enemy but 
huno-er. The ereat commander had, however, no thought 
of sitting down idly and reckoning his losses or the 
causes of failure. His army had been more than a week 
severed from all communications with the North, and not 
until several days afterward did he learn the fate of the 
river expedition. It was January 4th before he received 
reports of the miscarriage of the attack on Haines' Bluff. 
On January loth he established his headquarters at 
Memphis, and calling out every resource of his depart- 
ment bent all his energies to preparations for the new 
campaign. 

General McClernand's accession to the command of 
the army in the vicinity of Vicksburg, had been the source 
of much annoyance to the department commander who 
had originally placed Sherman in command of the river 
expedition, while himself remaining with the interior army. 
Profoundly convinced of his great lieutenant's military ca- 
pacity, he earnesdy desired to see him enjoy the fruits of 
its exercise in the wider sphere of independent command, 
and generously took to himself the less conspicuous share 
in the undertaking to which the co-operation of both must 



MOVING TOWARD VICKSBURG. 307 

contribute. Although disappointed in the outcome of the 
movement, he recognized the fact that failure was due 
only to miscalculation of the difficulties of the enterprise, 
and was eagerly anxious that Sherman should have 
opportunity to regain his somewhat faded laurels. He 
had no such respect for McClernand nor confidence in 
his soldierly capacity. While the citizen general pos- 
sessed undoubted valor, and could be counted upon to 
do his best under orders, he was often msubordinate, 
placing his own opinions in opposition to his superiors in 
command, besides being intensely jealous of his own re- 
pute. With Sherman in command Grant would probably 
have contented himself with the general direction of 
operations from distant headquarters. McClernand was 
already manifesting his restiveness even under superior 
control, and had to be curbed at all hazards. 

Immediately after the abandonment of operations on 
the Yazoo, General Sherman had suggested the propriety 
of an attack upon Arkansas Post, a fortified point on the 
Arkansas River, the capture of which would have a good 
effect upon the troops, somewhat discouraged by their 
failure at Haines' Bluff McClernand concurred in the 
move, and it was undertaken. Accordingly transports on 
w^hich the army still remained were headed up the White 
River early in January, and by the 9th of that month had 
reached a canal affording them entrance into the Arkan- 
sas River, above the point to be attacked. Commodore 
Porter's gunboats co-operating the combined forces in- 
vested the place which surrendered on January i ith, to- 
gether with nearly five thousand Confederates. This 
success was somewhat of a relief to the otherwise barren 
results of the river expedition, but Grant nevertheless 
was inclined to be displeased at first. It had no bearing 
on the general campaign, and he was ever opposed to 



t^1-r 



\] 







(308) 



MOVING TOWARD VICKSBURG. 309 

side issues. He, however, subsequently became con- 
vinced diat the achievement was worth the expense. 

Grant had now determined to concentrate all his 
forces and make the coming campaign direct from the 
Mississippi. All the forces of his department east of the 
river, excepting enough to defend the line from Memphis 
to Corinth, were ordered to rendezvous at Youno-'s 
Point opposite the mouth of the Yazoo. All ordnance 
and other stores likely to tempt the enemy were removed 
from the Tennessee side, and every effort was made to 
collect as large a force as might be required for the final 
conquest of Vicksburg. 

The department had been temporarily increased by 
the addition of as much of the territory west of the Mis- 
sissippi as might be required by the plans of the cam- 
paign. The forces had been previously divided into four 
army corps, commanded respectively by Major-Generals 
McClernand, Sherman, Hurlburt and McPherson, and on 
January 29th Grant himself arrived in person and as- 
sumed the immediate command. McClernand protested 
and appealed to the President, by whom he had been 
assigned to conduct the expedition against Vicksburg. 
His protests fell upon unheeding ears, for Grant had 
been previously empowered to relieve McClernand, and 
either place Sherman in command or assume it himself. 
He chose the latter course to the incalculable gain of 
the army and the cause. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE APPROACH TO VICKSBURG. 

Vicksburg's batteries — Tier after tier of heavy guns — The Gunboats prepare to run 
them — A brilliant war scene — Success of the enterprise — Grant's obstacles on land — 
Changing the face of nature — Five cross-cuts abandoned — The army thrown below 
Vicksburg— A wonderful military feat — Into Mississippi — The demonstration at 
Haines' Bluff— Battle of Port Gibson — Grand Gulf evacuated— At last a base 
around Vicksburg. 

The difficulties attending the approach to Vicksburg 
were many. It was the citadel of Confederate power 
in all the West and second only in importance to Rich- 
mond. It was situated on ground easily defended, and 
along a watercourse treacherous in its incursions upon 
the land and easy of obstruction. The movements and 
manoeuvres so far made to reach it had failed, and Grant 
taking counsel of his own mind, and drawing of the place 
and its surroundings a careful map, began considering a 
bold plan for its capture. He was lying north of it with 
his command scattered along the river for many miles, 
and the objective of the campaign which he began at 
Belmont was still before him. 

Farragut had passed the hellish fires of batteries below 
New Orleans and opened the river below Vicksburg. 
Commodore Davis had performed an equally important 
service by running the batteries above Memphis, and only 
this one point, situated in the bend of the Mississippi, dis- 
puted the National control to the great highway. Grant 
discussed with his subordinate commanders his plan of 
campaign. It was to load provisions upon transports 
and with the help of Admiral Porter's gunboats to run 
supplies enough past the batteries that commanded the 
310 



THE APPROACH TO VICKSBURG. 



311 



river for several miles, march his army by land on the 
Louisiana shore, ferry them across the river and begin 




COMMODORE FARRAGUT. 

the siege. It was a bold and hazardous undertaking. 
Only two officers of note, Logan and McPherson, sup- 



312 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ported the plan. Sherman opposed it as being too risky 
and unmiHtary. He preferred the land route by way 
of Grenada and argued for its acceptance; but Grant 
adopted his own idea and began preparations for the 
movement. 

In his conversations with Sherman upon the subject 
he used that expression which has become famous, " A 
general who never takes chances never accomplishes 
anything." "Grant at this time," says General Robert 
McFeely, upon whose authority I am now giving these 
reminiscences, " was about to do one of those masterly 
things, equal to the march of Napoleon across the Alps. 
He assumed the responsibility with as much composure 
as though he was ordering the most ordinary opera- 
tion belonging to army life. I remember very dis- 
tinctly his saying to Sherman, ' This army has never been 
defeated and does not believe it can be. To load it 
upon railroad trains or transports, and take it back to 
Memphis, would have a worse effect upon it than a de- 
feat. It would also have a disheartening effect upon the 
country. Then to take the land route by way of Grenada 
and Jackson, I would only have one chance. I must 
either whip the enemy or be whipped. I could not 
subsist upon that country. By going south of \'icks- 
burg I will have a good chance of defeating the Con- 
federates ; but if I should fail, I can move south to the 
Gulf, through a country rich enough to feed my army. 
But I am sure that if I can get provisions enough below 
Vicksburg to feed m)' army for a few days, I can take the 

city.' 

"In providing for this feature of the expedition. Gene- 
ral Grant said to me: 'McFeely, get all the transports 
you can. Collect as many rations as they can carry and 
we'll make the trial. Put aboard nothing but coffee. 



THE APPROACH TO VICKSBURG 313 

sugar, hard bread, salt and meat. If half the boats we 
start run the batteries and reach a point to the south of 
Vicksburg, we will have enough to live on for a few days, 
and during that time can certainly provide for our 
further subsistence.' 

" I at once got three transports, sent them to Memphis, 
took all the rations I could find there and returned. I then 
loaded six transports, protected their vital parts with 
bales of hay and cotton, and then volunteers were called 
for to man them, the regular crews refusing to take 
the risk. It seemed to me as though half the army 
wanted to join in this hazardous undertaking ; men used 
as much influence to get on this expedition as people 
do now to get office. It was a singular feature of 
army life to note the number of men who would volun- 
teer for any movement of great hazard. Out of all the 
crews of those transports only one captain stayed by his 
boat. He was a gamey old fellow, and said that wherever 
his boat went he was going too. Before he started he 
had the pilot-house taken down. When asked why he 
did that, he said, ' The bullets might splinter the wood- 
work and kill or wound me. If there is nothing there 
but me and the wheel I'll stand a better chance for my 
life.' When everything was in readiness the old fellow 
took his station at the wheel and piloted his boat through 
safely. 

" The night before they started, some of our people 
rio-ged up some old coal barges with piles of barrels to 
represent smoke-stacks, and fires under them to make a 
smoke, towed them out into the current and let them 
float down the river to see how alert the Confederates 
were. They opened on them every time as soon as they 
came within range. This evident watchfulness increased 
the dangers of the undertaking. But Grant had de- 



314 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

cided to make the venture, and there was no thought of 
recall. At last everything was in readiness. Admiral 
Porter was to lead the way with his gunboats, and the 
steamers were to hug the opposite bank. I can never 
forget the night when they started on their hazardous 
journey. It was about lo o'clock. There was no moon, 
but it was starlight. Grant and his staff took a boat 
down the river to a bend from which he could observe 
their passage for some distance, and then waved them 
good-bye as they floated down the current. P^or a few 
moments all was quiet. It was the calm before the storm. 
" Then came the crash of heavy guns. The Confederate 
batteries had opened upon the singular fleet, and shot 
fell thick and fast about it as well as about the craft on 
board which General Grant watched the perilous enter- 
prise. The flash of the guns in the darkness, the screech 
of the iron missiles sent against the boats, the confused 
noises, the, splash of the shells in the water, the reports 
of 'their explosion, were dread sounds breaking the still- 
ness of that April night. The artillery^ fire was ter- 
rific, and its lurid flames lit up the embattled face 
of the hostile bluff, makinor clearer the outlines of the 
adventurous vessels as they moved silently down the 
stream. Then buildings on both sides of the river were 
fired, and as the flames gathered violence their brighter 
light still heightened the effect of the marine silJiouettes 
floating down the river, making a picture that can never 
be forgotten or described. It was the grandest display 
of fireworks that was ever witnessed. Five of the im- 
periled transports reached a point of safety south of the 
city. The ' Henry Clay' was set on fire and burned to 
the water's edge. It was a wonder to me that any of 
them got through. But enough rations to last the army 
several days had reached a place of safety, and Grant's 



316 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

most audacious move in his plan to open the Mississippi 
was a success. 

" Later on, when Pemberton had surrendered, Major 
Watts, a commissioner for the exchang-e of prisoners, 
fell into our hands. I got quite friendly with him, and 
one day I asked him why it was that they allowed those 
transports to get by the batteries. He said there were 
two reasons for their successful passage. One was, that 
they were having a big ball in Vicksburg that night and 
many of the officers were there having" a o-ood time. 
The peculiar condition of the atmosphere, however, was 
the main reason for the success of the movement. It 
•was one of those nights common in that southern coun- 
try when the atmosphere was so rare that the smoke 
would not rise. Therefore, when a gun was fired, its 
smoke settled right over the muzzle and after one or two 
shots nothing could be seen in front. They could 
hear the paddle-wheels of the steamers but could not see 
anything. So all they could do was to fire at the sound. 
So eager were they to discover the unseen enemy that 
men were posted in front of the guns with branches of 
trees, waving them frantically to drive the smoke away, 
but all to no purpose, luck or Providence favored them. 

" Before this movement began, Sherman was so much 
opposed to it that he wrote a paper of earnest objec- 
tions against it, no doubt to be on record in case of 
failure. This paper was sent to Grant's headquarters in 
regular order and retained by him, the General re- 
marking to Sherman that ' if he did not want to go. he 
should make the feint at Haines' Bluff and come down 
afterward.' This was agreed to. McClernand's corps 
was first sent down, McPherson followed and Sherman 
was brought down after the battle of Port Gibson. 

" Although Sherman doubted the success of the under- 



THE APPROACH TO VICKSBURG. 317 

taking, he was just that loyal, earnest and honest that he 
did everything possible to make the movement a success 
from first to last. It, however, is a singular fact, as will 
be seen by the history of that campaign, that, either by 
accident or purposely, Sherman's corps did not partici- 
pate in any of the engagements about Vicksburg until 
the investment was complete — excepting a brief skirmish 
below Jackson. When he stood with Grant on Walnut 
Hills and saw Vicksburg in the toils, he said, ' Up to 
this time I never thought this movement would succeed. 
This is a success. This is a great campaign, even if we 
never take the city.' From this time on the bond of 
friendship between Grant and Sherman seemed to be 
stronger than ever, and during the forty days' siege 
they were often together under the shelter of my capa- 
cious tent. In the assault and general operations of the 
siege, none were more enthusiastic or useful than the man 
who began showing his single-hearted earnestness in the 
war by sending reinforcements to Grant at Fort Donelson. 
" Naturally, there were many amusing and interesting 
incidents of the siecfe, but none was more strikino- and 
illustrative of Grant's character than the one which oc- 
curred on July 3d. Vicksburg had capitulated. Grant's 
ambition to open the Mississippi River was now satisfied. 
He had never lost sight of that objective since he began 
at Belmont. That night, while Sherman was at his head- 
quarters, he took from his pocket that famous paper of 
objections which Sherman had filed before the campaign 
began, and handed it back to him, saying, ' I do not need 
this, and perhaps 'you would prefer to have it' What a 
remarkable evidence of the hearty relations between the 
two men ! The important paper was destroyed.^" 

* General Logan is the authority for the statement that the paper was re- 
turned. General McFeely did not see it handed back, but heard that it was. 



318 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The running of the batteries was the sixth of the 
several plans Grant had tried. Five routes by which he 
hoped to place his troops before the doomed city had 
proven too difficult even for his indomitable will. The 
cutting of a single mile of canal across the peninsula six 
miles froni the city on the Louisiana side, would have 
provided a safe channel for the transportation of troops 
and supplies to the projected base below. The work of 
cutting it was prosecuted with great vigor. A sudden 
rising of the great river caused the embankments to give 
way, and the waters sweeping over destroyed the labor of 
weeks. 

A like sudden fall in the river put an end to a scheme 
thought practicable to dredge out the shallows and con- 
necting links of a route through the bayous about Milli- 
ken's Bend, through Roundabout Bayou to the Tensas 
river, and. thence to New Carthage. A still longer route 
from Lake Providence seventy-five miles above Vicks- 
burg where the lake is only a mile from the Mississippi, 
had also kept the engineers and diggers employed. By 
cutting through the intervening mile, it was hoped that 
the steamers would be able to navigate the lakes and 
bayous to the Tensas. These water-courses, however, 
proved so snake-like and difficult, that this scheme, too, 
was abandoned. 

Again a route was surveyed from Yazoo Pass, which 
winds a very tortuous way eastward from eight miles 
below Helena through Moon Lake, and thence to the 
Coldwater river, a confluent of the Tallahatchie , which 
is itself a branch of the Yazoo river." Tiiis route was 
made the more important by the fact that the Confederates 
were constructino- crunboats on both the Coklwater and 
Tallahatchie. A joint arm\- and navy expedition v/as sent 
along this route to destroy the hostile embryo gunboats, 




(SIO' 



320 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and, if possible, to proceed down the Yazoo and co-operate 
in a new attack on Haines' Bluff. Experienced pilots 
showed the way through channels overhung with masses of 
interlaced branches and vines so dense that the light wood- 
work of the steamers was swept away, and the smoke- 
stacks were knocked down. In the reaches which were 
comparatively free from the too luxuriant swamp growth, 
the transports encountered huge rafts of timber felled by 
the Confederates, who, suspecting some such attempt, had 
been diligent in piling up obstructions. Soldiers were 
called upon to drop their arms, and, often shoulder-deep 
in water, to spend hours lassoing the heavy logs and drag- 
ging them out of the way. Forcing a channel through innu- 
merable like obstacles, the expedition at last found itself 
in the comparatively free waters of the Tallahatchie. Pro- 
ceeding cautiously down its channel, they came upon Fort 
Pemberton, so strongly posted at a sharp bend of the tor- 
tuous river that the grunboats which tried to reduce it 
were badly handled, and a light-draft iron-clad was sunk 
before the naval officers declared the batteries impreg- 
nable to attack from the river. Gen. Ross, who com- 
manded the land forces, exhausted the resources of mili- 
tary art in obtaining a foot-hold near the fort, from which 
it could be assaulted or blockaded until hunger compelled 
its surrender. The country surrounding it, however, had 
been submerged by the winter floods until it looked like 
a shallow lake, the dense forest growth furnishing a con- 
tinuous abatis which could not be passed. The expedition 
had penetrated two hundred and fifty miles, and McPher- 
son's whole corps had been sent to Milliken's Bend to 
support the pioneers, when these insuperable difficulties 
comi)elled the abandonment of the enterprise. 

All these operations were merely scouts to find some 
plan of establishing a base for the supply of an army 



THE APPROACH TO VICKSBURG. 321 

below Vicksburg, which could be reached from St. Louis 
without passing under the fire of the batteries. As one 
after another proved impracticable, Grant was more than 
ever convinced that the batteries must be run on the 
Mississippi before he could hope to win the prize. The 
various movements had had the effect of distracting the 
enemy's attention from what was now to become the 
immediate objective-point of the Union commander's 
combinations, and his way was by that made much easier. 
Farracrut, with a fleet from New Orleans, had run the 
batteries of Port Hudson, another Confederate Gibraltar, 
nearer New Orleans, and Admiral Porter became anxious 
to prove that he could succeed in doing down-stream, 
what the other had accomplished against the swift current. 
The "good ready" which Grant spoke about was being 
hastened with all dispatch, when he was again assailed by 
a fire in his rear. His army had already been four months 
in the swamps, and the many-headed people began to 
clamor for substantial fruits of the army's labors. For 
the first time it was discovered that Grant was slow. The 
various schemes by which he had tried and failed to place 
his army around the city on the bluffs were voted wild 
and chimerical, fit only to be classed amongst the emana- 
tions of an alcoholized brain. His heroic army, forced 
to resort to the spade, to keep the overflowing waters 
out of their encampments, became the victims of the 
dreaded malaria. Their sufferings were wildly exagger- 
ated, but some foundation existed in the fact that upon 
every dyke on whose higher tops alone could be found 
dry ground above the overflow, were the graves of the 
hundreds who had dropped their arms and shovels to 
answer to the final roll-call. Pestilence had indeed 
skirmished with his army, but had been defeated by that 
mastery of the detail of preparation which left no exi- 



S22 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

gency unprovided for. Politicians of all grades and de- 
grees clamored for his removal, and half a dozen generals, 
widi or widiout dieir own consent, were urged upon the 
President to supersede Grant. "I rather like the man; I 
think we'll try him a little longer,"' Mr. Lincoln said. 

Although well aware of this discontent with his opera- 
tions in high quarters, at no time did Grant exhibit the 
annoyance it must have cost him. In reply to strictures 
concerning the health and discipline of his command, he 
wrote on April 4th: "The discipline and health of this 
army is now good, and I am satisfied that the greatest 
confidence in success prevails." He was now maturing 
his plans for the grand movement which was to crown 
his great undertaking with success. 

Nearly all the surface of Louisiana near the river was 
covered with the overflow, which, in ante-war times, had 
been kept out by a vast series of dykes or levees. These 
had been broken for military purposes, or had been 
suffered to eo down bv the inhabitants, and thus was 
gready increased 'the difficulty of moving a force through 
the Louisiana bottoms to a point from which they could 
be thrown across and effect a lodgment below X'icksburg 
on the Mississippi side. New Carthage, Louisiana, 
seemed the best point, and Grant believed that a way 
thither could be found for the troops, although the 
almost bottomless quagmires were wholly impassable for 
wagons. McClernand's advance pushed forward as far 
as Smith's plantation, found the levee of Bayou \'idal 
broken, and New Carthage for the time being an island. 
Still, the bayou could be avoided by a detour of i 2 miles. 
The distance of this route between Young's Point and 
New CartliaL^e was thus Increased to thirty miles of as 
boa-g\'' rond as troops were ever asked to march through. 
Still it was practicable, and once at New Carthage the 



THE APPROACH TO VICKSBURG. 323 

scouts discovered that Hard Times, on the Louisiana 
Shore, above Grand Gulf, furnished great advantao-es 
for throwing troops across the river. This, by the cir- 
cuitous route made necessary by the condition of the 
country, was seventy miles from Milliken's Bend. To 
that point Grant ordered McClernand's and McPherson's 
corps just after the success of the gunboats in passing 
the batteries, as described in the beginning of this chapter- 

This movement of the land forces was regarded as 
most hazardous, even by some of Grant's most trusted 
lieutenants. Even the fact that some boats had succeeded 
in running the batteries only showed how dangerous that 
undertaking was, and the storm of shot and shell they 
escaped was merely proof that those who subsequently 
tried it would encounter greater risks. Even General 
Sherman had remonstrated with all the vigor his sense 
of subordination permitted. In his opinion, it would vio- 
late every known principle of military procedure, by 
cutting his own communications and placing his army 
just where the enemy would like to have them. Disaster, 
if incurred, would be overwhelming, and could be avoided 
only by the happiest result of combinations and the speed- 
iest of victories: 'T make these suggestions," General 
Sherman wrote, " with the request that General Grant 
simply read them, and give them, as I know he will, a share 
of his thoughts. I would prefer he should not answer 
them, but merely give them as much or as little weight as 
they deserve ; whatever plan of action he may adopt will 
receive from me the same zealous co-operation and ener- 
getic support as though conceived by myself." The order, 
however, was never revoked, and despite Sherman's fore- 
bodings, the campaign opened the Mississippi River. 

Six days after the first successful attempt to run the 
batteries, a second was made. Six transports towing 



324 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

twelve barges loaded with forage, and manned by eager 
volunteers from the army, on the night of April 22d, left 
the rendezvous at Young's Point. The enterprise was 
attended with much more hazard than that which preceded, 
for the Confederates had got the range and their heav\- 
missiles did great execution. Five of the boats were badly 
damaged, but all but one made the run successfully and 
half the forage was safely landed. 

Grand Gulf, at the mouth of the Big Black River, had 
been heavily fordfied, and was virtually the left tlank of 
the defenses of Vicksburg. It stood upon the only avail- 
able spot then known to Grant at which his troops could 
be successfully thrown across the river, and established 
with a suitable base for operations against the main objec- 
tive. Admiral Porter, with his gunboats, undertook to 
silence its batteries, while McClernand's corps was to be 
thrown across the river and complete its capture by 
storm, if the navy proved successful. The gunboats, often 
within pistol-shot of the batteries, rained shot and shell 
upon them for five hours. Grant, who watched the naval 
assault from a tug, becoming satisfied that its defenses 
were too strong to be stormed by any land force that 
could be established near it, acquiesced in Admiral 
Porter's withdrawal. 

It was essential to the success of these operations that 
the garrison of Vicksburg should be too fully employed 
in other quarters to enable them to promptly reinforce 
the real point of attack. Hence, another move in the 
nature of a feint upon Haines' Bluff was ordered. Sher- 
man, whose corps had been left at Milliken's Bend, was 
ordered to execute this movement. His l^iloodv repulse 
from those same rugged hill-sides was still frc^sli in the 
public mind, and he well knew that although onlv a demon- 
stration was to be made, it would be difficult to persuade 



THE APPROACH TO VTCKSBURG. .'^25 

self-appointed critics that he had not been defeated. It 
was a thankless task, but the loyal old warrior replied to 
his commander, "I believe a diversion at Haines' Bluff is 
proper and rii^ht, and will make it, let whatever report of 
repulses be made." He accordingly moved ten regiments 
up the Yazoo, and while the gunboats engaged the bat- 
teries, landed his men and made dispositions as if to 
attack. Reconnoitering parties were sent out, and the 
army paraded for two days out of range of the enemy's 
works. Their movements proved very perplexing to the 
defenders, who were reinforced in crreat haste. Havino- 
accomplished his design, Sherman withdrew his forces 
without the loss of a man. The enemy was thus pre- 
vented from reinforcing Grand Gulf, and making head 
against McClernand's advance. 

The main operations were now being successfully pros- 
ecuted. From Information obtained from an old neo-ro 
Grant learned that a orood road ran from Bruinsburc'- a 
few miles below, to Port Gibson, a point which, if held by 
his army, would compel the evacuation of Grand Gulf 
It took him but one day to march his army opposite, and 
on April 24th the gunboats and transports ran the Grand 
Gulf batteries, and all the next day were engaged in ferry- 
ing McClernand's corps across. The hazard of throwino- 
an army across such a stream as the Mississippi, ricrht into 
the midst of a hostile army, is something that generals 
have seldom attempted, even with all facilities at hand. It 
was infinitely multiplied in this case by the fact that Grant, 
already seventy miles away from his base of operations, 
had been able to gather barely three days' rations for his 
army, and to assemble transports enough to ferry only a 
few thousand men across at a time. In this, as in many 
other movements, he was gready assisted by the ineffi- 
ciency of his opposing commanders, who could have made 



326 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

his landing in Mississippi very costly, if not impossible. 
McClernand was permitted to land his men unmolested, 
and they were pushed forward with all expedition to the 
highlands about Port Gibson. That same evening, eight 
miles from Bruinsburg, the skirmishers of the enemy were 
encountered. On April 26th, four miles further on, in the 
neighborhood of Port Gibson, they were met by a strong 
force of Confederates under command of Gen. Bowen. 
He made a gallant stand to defend the two roads by 
which the Federals were forced to advance, but his posi- 
tions were yielded at the bayonet-point one after another 
and by night-fall his troops were thoroughly beaten and 
put to flight. Grand Gulf was evacuated next day, and 
the Union forces, now numbering twent)'-five thousand 
men, were fully established with a river base, and ready 
to be projected against the army which Grant knew was 
beinof assembled to defend the Confederate Gibraltar. 
Delaying only long enough to concentrate his army by 
bringing Sherman's corps from Milliken's Bend, and to 
use every energy to gather as much supplies as possible, 
he was ready a week afterward to start out on the most 
original and successful campaign ot the war. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 

Grant's most original campaign— Cutting loose from his base — Subsisting on the 
country — Bewildering manoeuvres — Pemberton's army divided — Accidental battle 
at Raymond — Logan's splendid valor — Jackson invested— McPherson's hot en- 
gagement — Jackson captured — The army turned backward — Pemberton struck at 
Champion's Hill— An overwhelming defeat— Routed at Black River Bridge- 
Penned up in Vicksburg — Haines' Bluff taken — The siege begun — Sherman's 
doubts turned to admiration. 

"Casting the net for a haul of fortune" is the way 
Napier would have spoken of the movements Grant at 
this point begins. Yet no great commander has ever 
covered the world with his name who has not done much 
that was original and hazardous. Napoleon won much 
of his distinction because he starded military cridcs as 
well as his opponents by doing the unexpected. Cast 
iron rules arbitrarily applied to warlike operations rarely 
create a pre-eminent soldier. The audacious moves in 
the game of conflict win distinction for a man. They 
also succeed more frequently because the other side is 
kept wholly unprepared for his opponent's stroke. The 
officer who fails to take chances in war, and to do things 
which the strict military sciendst does not foresee and ap- 
prove rarely rises to the highest command. This truism 
does not apply to foolhardy exploits but to the well-de- 
vised movements of a commander capable of grasping 
and using fresh emergencies as they arise. 

The easy victory at Port Gibson and consequent evac- 
uation of Grand Gulf, were most inspiring events to the 
Union Army, and emboldened its commander to rudely 

(327) 



328 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

depart from the campaign contemplated m his instruc- 
tions from Halleck. The general-in-chief as well as the 
President had expected that Grant, if successful in effect- 
ing a lodgment below Vicksburg, would merely secure 
its possession and move thence to join Banks in the re- 
ducdon of Port Hudson, thus opening the river to New 
Orleans to the supplying of his army in subsequent 
operations. The two armies united in overwhelming 
numbers could at once proceed at leisure against Vicks- 
burg, if indeed, the Confederates should then deem it 
worth defending. Grant, however, saw an opportunity 
the daring of which dazzled his own subordinates while 
it made them shudder for the success of plans which 
had never before in the history of war been successfully 
prosecuted. Therefore they will be here given in un- 
usual detail. 

The defence of the Confederate stronghold had been 
intrusted to General J. C. Pemberton and an army of 
nearly sixty thousand men. The larger part of this force 
under Pemberton himself, lay either in Vicksburg or 
across the roads and railways in its immediate vicinity. 
The remainder at first commanded by General Gregg but 
afterward by General Joseph E. Johnston was established 
in or near Jackson, the Capital of the State, and a place 
of strategic value on account of the railroads there cross- 
ing. With possession of these railroads, these two armies 
could readily be united in numbers sufficient to over- 
whelm the forces then with Grant. The opportunity 
which the Federal commander perceived and accepted 
was by swift marches, the seeming foolhardiness of 
which deceived his enemies, to throw himself between 
these two armies, beat them in detail and so prepare the 
way to a siege of the fortress which had defied him for 
months. 



BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 32'.) 

The possession of Grand Gulf was more important to 
Grant from the facihties it gave him to mislead the enemy 
as to his object than as a depot for the supply of his troops. 
All commissary and ordnance stores had to be waggoned 
across the boggy Louisiana bottoms, a distance of more 
than fifty miles, and with all the means at his disposal he 
could not gather rations sufficient for the support of his 
troops. Here the experience gained in the campaign 
toward Grenada the previous December was turned to 
fullest account. The generals along his supply line were 
advised to hasten forward only hard bread, coffee and 
salt. He fully expected that the rich pastures of the 
country through which he marched would well supply 
his men with beef and bacon, and in this he was not dis- 
appointed. Through all the long marches and desperate 
battles of this wonderful campaign, until his army had 
enveloped the city, only three days rations were issued 
for five days' use. The country furnished the remainder. 

Grant remained at Grand Gulf and vicinity preparing 
for his great undertaking until May 9th. Sherman's corps 
hurried down from Milliken's Bend after the Haines' 
Bluff demonstration came up with the army on the east- 
ern bank of the river on May 6th, and two days after- 
ward the forward movement began. The Big Black river 
emptying into the Mississippi above Grand Gulf was 
regarded as one of the important defences of the enemy. 
McClernand's command was moved up both banks of 
this river threatening a direct attack upon Vicksburg, 
while the corps of McPherson marching northeastward 
was approaching Raymond, the most advanced position 
of the hostile army defending Jackson. Sherman's corps 
advanced upon the roads leading to Edward's Station, a 
point at which Grant learned Pemberton was concentra- 
ting his army. 



S30 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

These movements once begun, Grant sent his last 
despatch to Halleck from Grand Gulf under date of May 
iith. It announced the arrival of his advance divisions 
fourteen miles out, and concluded, "As I shall commun- 
icate with Grand Gulf no more, except it becomes neces- 
sary to send a train with heavy escort, you may not hear 
from me again for several days." In thus cutting him- 
self off from his base Grant effected a purpose w^hich had 
a most important bearing upon the issue of the cam- 
paicrn — he was beyond the reach of recall by his timid 

superior, Halleck was 
thrown into an agony ot 
apprehension by the re- 
port of his subordinate, 
and wrote hasty orders 
to him to return to Grand 
Gulf and join in the cam- 
paign against Fort Hud- 
son according to instruc- 
tions. Happily the tele- 
graph lines from Wash- 
ington ceased at Memphis 
and the recalling des- 
GENERAL JOHN A. LOGAN. patcli did not rcacli Grant 

until his army had scattered opposing forces and were 
besieging Vicksburg. 

On May 12th the right wing of the Federal army 
moved toward Raymond. About noon the advance divi- 
sion commanded by General John A. Logan struck the 
enemy five thousand strong, advantageously posted about 
two miles south and west of Raymond. Two batteries 
swept the approaching road and covered the bridge by 
which the Federals must advance to the attack. Logan 
added to his reputation as a fighting general by assault- 




BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 331 

ino- at once. " That was the most desperate fighting ot 
my whole army experience," Logan has since said of 
this eventful fight. " Grant had not expected to encounter 
the enemy then and the battle consequently was an ac- 
cident. But I drove the Confederates from the field with 
tremendous loss before the main army came up." The 
battle in fact was an accidental encounter resuldng from 
the manoeuvring of McPherson's corps, the right wing, 
which was demonstrating against Jackson for the pur- 
pose of bewildering the enemy. " Indeed all the batdes 
Grant fought before the siege of Vicksburg," says Gen- 
eral Logan, "were unexpected." McPherson's corps lost 
five hundred and forty men killed, wounded and missing, 
almost all from Logan's division. The Confederate loss 
was four hundred and five killed and wounded, and four 
hundred and fifteen prisoners. They lost also two can- 
nons and a lar^e number of small arms. 

The enemy was followed only as far as Raymond, 
which McPherson occupied that same evening. They 
had fled precipitately toward Jackson, but the rugged 
country much cut up with ravines and covered with 
dense undergrowth forbade further pursuit. 

The victory at Raymond, of which Grant received in- 
formauon the same night, led to an immediate change 
in his plans, making certain what he had left to be de- 
cided by circumstances. Knowing that Pemberton's 
army was drawn up in the vicinity of Edward's Station, 
on the Vicksburg and Jackson railway, he made his dis- 
posidons with the view of misleading that general to 
believe he was to be attacked. McClernand accord- 
ingly was ordered to keep up the appearance of moving 
upon that point. His advance division thrown across 
the Fourteen-mile creek had some skirmishing, while 
his other divisions were extended to the right so as to 



332 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



communicate with Sherman's corps, the centre of the 
Union Hne at Dillon's plantation. McPherson was at 
Raymond seven miles eastward of Sherman's position. 




MAJOR-GEN l.KAL JAMES B. M'PHERSON. 

Grant had his head-quarters with Sherman at Dillon's. 
The Union line thus lay nearly parallel with the Vicks- 
burg and Jackson road about seven miles south of it. 



BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 333 

and extendin'T^ from Baldwin's ferry on the Big Black to 
Raymond. 

The hasty retreat of the Confederates through Ray- 
mond led Grant to believe that a considerable hostile 
force was assembled in Jackson, which might embarrass 
his operations toward Vicksburg. He promptly deter- 
mined to fall upon it, and if not destroy it at least pre- 
vent its junction with Pemberton, Accordingly the line 
of march of McClernand's and Sherman's corps was 
deflected so as to bring them within closer supporting 
distance of McPherson,. who was ordered to advance 
upon Clinton on the Vicksburg and Jackson railroad, 
with the view of preventing any co-operation between 
Pemberton and the forces in Jackson, which that same 
day went under the command of General Joseph E. 
Johnston. On May 13th McPherson entered Clinton, de- 
stroyed the railroad, and captured important despatches 
from Pemberton to Gregg, whom he still believed in 
command at Jackson, indicating that he was still on the 
defensive, expecting attack at Edward's Station. After 
completing the dismantling of the railroad tracks by 
twisting rails, tearing up ties, destroying culverts and 
telegraph poles and wires, McPherson moved on toward 
Jackson ten miles eastward. He started thither in the 
early dawn of May 14th. Sherman, whose corps had 
occupied Raymond when McPherson moved on Clinton, 
also moved against Jackson at the same hour. Clinton 
and Raymond are equidistant from the capital of Missis- 
sippi, and McPherson and Sherman had timed their 
march so as to strike the doomed city from different 
points at the same hour. The movement might have 
been made more hazardous had Pemberton obeyed 
Johnston's earnest orders to strike the Federal rear and 
communications at or near Dillon's plantation, where 
Grant had by this time brought McClernand's corps. 



334 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Rain fell heavily on the night of May 13th, making 
the roads deep and slippery, but the men marched in 
excellent order and spirit, and by 9 a. m. of the 14th 
Crocker with INIcPherson's adv^ance division encountered 
the enemy about five miles out of Jackson. Driving in 
their outposts speedily Crocker followed them two miles 
and a half, until the main body under Johnston's com- 
mand was found posted outside the defences awaiting 
attack. The regiments defeated at Raymond, the garri- 
son of Jackson and some reinforcements from Georgia 
and South Carolina composed the army of defence. 

Sherman's corps had also encountered a small force 
of infantry and artillery about five miles from Jackson 
on the southern road by which he was advancing. 
Although there was an interval of nearly two miles 
between his left and McPherson's right, no effort to con- 
nect the wings was made, and dispositions for immediate 
attack were begun. A very heavy shower which began 
at this time delayed the onset an hour and a half, but 
the period was well spent by McPherson in completing his 
lines. At eleven o'clock the order to advance was given. 
Two batteries swept the road and open field across 
which the blue line moved. Logan's and Crocker's 
divisions shoulder to shoulder swept forward with 
cheers, drove the enemy out of a ravine in their front 
and charged gallandy after them up the hill. The Con- 
federates not waitinor for the full shock of the assault 
hastily fled to the cover of their works. The Federals 
pursued until they were halted just out of range of the 
artillery mounted on the defences. Two batteries well 
placed had done much execution upon the retreating 
enemy. 

Sherman's advance from the southwest had been 
made with similar precision and success. Skirmishers 




^oi: 



336 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

had sent the opposing infantry to the cover of the rifle- 
pits and other defences, and the Fifteenth corps, emerg- 
ing from the skirting woods, found itself in front of strong 
intrenchments, from which a brisk artillery fire was 
directed upon the road along which it advanced. Gen- 
eral Grant, who had been present all morning with 
Sherman, ordered a detachment to be sent to the right 
to feel that flank of the defences. This movement 
became merely a reconnoissance which developed the 
fact that the enemy were already far advanced in their 
preparations for hasty evacuation. Grant following the 
detachment found his road into Jackson unobstructed, 
and, accompanied by his staff and Frederick Dent Grant, 
then only thirteen years old, was the first to enter the 
city. After their first retirement the enemy had only 
enough men left in the defences to make a show of 
resistance. Johnston with the bulk of his forces was 
already far on his retreat northeastward. Tuttle's 
troops, advancing to the rear of the Confederate artillery, 
captured ten guns and one hundred and fifty artillerists. 
McPherson's troops were moved into the defences 
simultaneously with those of Sherman, and Crocker's 
division captured seven other guns. By three o'clock 
the Union flag floated over Jackson. 

Johnston by reason of the swiftness of his adversary's 
movement had been unable to detain them long enough 
for the attack upon their rear which he had ordered 
Pemberton to make. But that officer had not obeyed 
orders, so the outcome was beyond Johnston's control 
in any event. McPherson sent Stevenson's brigade to 
cut off the Confederate retreat toward Canton, but he 
moved slowly and Johnston was already out of harm's 
wa)-. The capture of Jackson cost the Union army two 
hundred and ninety men in killed and wounded. 



BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 337 

All but twenty-five of the casualties fell upon McPher- 
son's corps. Johnston made no official report of his 
losses, but McPherson estimated them at eight hundred 
and forty-five in killed, wounded and missing. Seven- 
teen cannon fell into the hands of the victors. 

On the evening of May 14th, Grant issued his orders 
to his lieutenants from the State-house in Jackson. The 
next day Sherman's men were employed in destroying 
the railroads twenty miles out in every direction. All 
bridges, factories, arsenals and mills that could be of any 
use to the enemy were burned, and the importance of 
Jackson as a railroad and military centre was effectually 
destroyed. 

Johnston's retreat carried him only six miles toward 
Canton the day of the battle. He then scattered his 
forces, ordering some of them to provide for their safety 
at points forty or fifty miles from Jackson, but from 
which they might be concentrated about Vicksburg by 
throwing them across the Black river, and, as Grant put 
it, "beating us" in. The Federal army was accordingly 
faced about to prevent such concentration. McPherson 
was directed to march on Bolton, twenty miles west of 
Jackson, and the nearest point at which Johnston could 
strike the railroad. Similar orders were given Sherman 
and McClernand. The command of the latter, held 
in reserve during the movement upon Jackson was, so 
near Bolton that his advance cavalry occupied that point 
before the other troops had time to get there. Pember- 
ton's whereabouts was the subject of anxious specula- 
tion. If he did what was best he would manoeuvre his 
forces toward the northward so as to facilitate a junction 
with Jackson. At one o'clock on the 15th, however, he 
moved his army out of its strong position about Ed- 
ward's Station, and started to place it across Grant's 



w 



3'^8 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

rear about Dillon's plantation seven miles to the south- 
ward toward Raymond. Baker's creek, however, was 
so swollen by the rains that he could not cross, and he 
reversed his column as it stood and started back to Ed- 
ward's Station. He had just fairly begun this movement 
when the skirmishers of Smith's division of McCler- 
nand's corps came upon his pickets about five miles from 
Edward's Station. Ignorant of the numbers of the force 
harassing him Pemberton at once threw his army into 
battle line with his left resting on Champion's Hill, a 
wooded ridge sixty or seventy feet high, over which the 
road to Edward's Station runs. The line extended 
thence southward to the road from Raymond to Vicks- 
burg. It was a position of great natural strength, espe- 
cially about Champion's Hill, whose bald top gave a 
commanding place for artillery, while its heavily timbered 
and precipitous sides could be passed by hostile troops 
only with extreme difficulty. The hill formed a horse- 
shoe where the road disappears, which gave the Confed- 
erates a position so strong, that a small force could 
successfully resist much larger numbers. 

After waiting some time to learn the dispositions of 
McClernand, who held the left of the Federal line with 
four divisions, Grant gave the order to attack, and 
Logan's and Hovey's divisions were launched against 
the Confederate left. Logan, sweeping around the right 
heel of the horseshoe which the Confederate position 
formed, speedily drove them back, two brigades of his divi- 
sion pressing forward with such determination that they 
captured three regiments, thirteen pieces of artillery, and 
actually gain(;d possession of the road which was Pember- 
ton's only line of retreat to Edward's Station. The Con- 
federates however had not been without success in op- 
posing Hovey's men. As his line pressed forward they 




^339) 



340 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

met a murderous fire of musketry under which they wav- 
ered for a moment. They again advanced, steadily driv- 
ing back the enemy six hundred yards and capturing 
eleven e^^ms and three hundred prisoners, besides eainine 
the crest of the height. The road was here sunken be- 
low the surface of the summit and formed a natural line 
of breastworks, which the Confederates availed them- 
selves of to resist with great determination further Fed- 
eral advance. Under its cover they were still masters of 
the declivity. Keenly alive to the importance of the point, 
Pemberton hurried up reinforcements rapidly, which, ar- 
riving under cover of the woods, were hurled down the 
road upon Hovey's position with such vigor that he 
was compelled to fall back. This he did stubbornly, 
leaving several of the guns he had just before captured. 
Grant who had been watching Hovey's struggles saw 
that he must be aided and sent in one of Crocker's bri- 
gades. This enabled Hovey to maintain his grip on the 
crest but not without heavy loss. 

The Confederates then made a desperate assault upon 
McPherson's left, at a point where a battery was doing 
them great damage. They were met by one of Logan's 
brigades which drove them back with heavy slaughter, 
capturing many prisoners. Again the enemy was pre- 
cipitated upon Hovey's left. His men, much fatigued 
by three hours fighting, and with ammunition nearly ex- 
hausted, fell back doggedly, and their commander sent 
back an urgent request for reinforcements. Hovey again 
assumed the offensive, and after a dashing charge the 
artillery previously captured and abandoned were re- 
captured. The Confederates, however, still fought with 
determination, and the battle in that quarter was still far 
from decided. It was at this juncture that Grant, seeing 
Hovey's peril, recalled Logan's division just when his 



BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 341 

hard won success might have been further pressed to 
the annihilation of Peniberton's army. Grant, in his 
report of the battle, says, he would then and there have 
captured the whole Confederate force if he had not then 
recalled Logan's troops. Here again as at Raymond, 
Logan's push and fighting quality earned him great 
distinction. 

Pemberton, badly beaten on his left, was still bent 
upon attacking the Federal right and rear. Hoping 
thus to relieve the terrible pressure from Hovey's line, 
he ordered an attack where McClernand's division was 
makine a cautious advance. Lorino-'s and Bowen's 
were assigned by Pemberton to this task, but the former 
refused to fieht. When directed to move to the aid of 
Stevenson he again refused. Bowen's brigades alone 
were sent in to the Stevenson's assistance and they 
together were pushed against Crocker and Hovey. 
Although the Confederate centre, thus strengthened, 
fought well, the battle had already gone against them. 
Under a terrific musketry fire, with all their artillery 
horses killed and their guns silenced, Stevenson's men 
finally broke at 5 p. m. Bowen's division also melted 
away, and the battle of Champion's Hill was won. 
Pemberton's army was completely demoralized. Many 
of his men had abandoned the field without orders. 
Others, throwing away their arms, surrendered unasked. 
The only portion of the Confederate forces which main- 
tained complete organization was Loring's division, 
which, lying in McClernand's front, had scarcely even 
skirmished briskly, became separated from the remain- 
der of the Confederate army and wandered off the field 
in a direction opposite that of their flying comrades. 
By abandoning their artillery, and under cover of dark- 
ness, they made a wide detour to the southward, and 



342 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

after several days succeeded in joining Johnston, who 
had returned to the vicinity of Jackson, having been 
beaten by Grant in his attempts to join his forces with 
those of Pemberton and himself take command of the 
defence of Vicksburg. 

Several of McClernand's divisions, despite Grant's 
urgent orders, only reached the battle-field after the re- 
treat began. While the beaten and disorganized foe 
were rushin^r headloncf across his front, seekinij to 
escape, he imagined they were attacking and prepared 
to receive instead of delivering a blow. 

The remainder of the Confederate forces fled with 
precipitation towards Vicksburg. McClernand's com- 
paratively fresh divisions were hurried forward in pur- 
suit and gathered a rich harvest of prisoners, artillery 
and small arms. At nightfall the victorious troops were 
within a few miles of the Big Black, Early next morn- 
ing McClernand, still on the track, found the enemy 
posted in considerable force on both sides of the river 
in a position of sufficient strength to promise a vigorous 
resistance, and the Union army was halted to make dis- 
positions for another battle. 

The battle of Champion's Hill or Baker's creek, as 
it has been variously called, was rich in its various re- 
sults. It was fought by Logan's and Crocker's divi- 
sions of McPherson's corps and Hovey's of McCler- 
nand's corps. Hovey, however, fought under the imme- 
diate supervision and orders of General Grant himself. 
That division alone lost twelve hundretl in killed, 
wounded and missing, or one-third of its total strength. 
The total Union loss was twenty-four hundred and fifty- 
in killed, wounded and missing. The Confederate loss, 
never officially reported, was estimated at about six 
thousand, of whom about one-half were prisoners. 



BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 343 

Thirty pieces of artillery and large quantities of small 
arms and ammunition were also captured. 

On the evening of the battle of Champion's Hill, May 
1 6th, Grant received Halleck's despatch ordering him to 
return and co-operate with Banks against Port Hudson. 
With three won battles behind him and a demoralized 
enemy in his front, the recall had come too late. The 
grand prize lay almost within his grasp and he pressed 
forward to secure it. 

During the last engagement Sherman and his corps 
were in Jackson completing the destruction of its rail- 
roads and factories. That evening they moved to join 
the main army and at Bolton learned of the victory and 
were ordered to deflect north of the road and march 
upon Bridgeport, an important crossing of the Big 
Black river. With this point in his control, Sherman 
could turn the left flank of the enemy guarding that 
river and menace Haines' Bluff, which it became de- 
sirable to secure as a base of supplies. Thoroughly ap- 
preciating the necessity for the swiftest moving, Sher- 
man was compelled to leave behind the wounded both 
at Jackson and Raymond. Surgeons heroically volun- 
teered to remain with them, and ample supplies and 
medical stores were left with them. Twice durine the 
siege Grant sent trains under escort to carry needed 
hospital stores and rations to these comrades, whom the 
exigencies of the campaign demanded should be left in 
the hands of the enemy. These messengers of humanity 
carried relief to the sick and wounded Confederates as 
well as Union sufferers, for the stores were divided be- 
tween them. The single pontoon train was sent to 
Sherman, who pressed forward with all speed and ar- 
rived at Bridgeport on the evening of the 17th. 

Meanwhile McClernand had found the enemy massed 



344 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in a horseshoe made by the Big Black river, coverincr 
the bridge which they had been ordered to hold to facil- 
itate the escape of Loring's division, of which Pemberton 
had heard nothing since the day before. Twenty can- 
non which had escaped capture were posted on the 
steep western bank of the river and field-works well 
placed made strong defences for the few brigades which 
still maintained some organization. Their front was 
protected by a bayou and boggy flat, which made a very 
formidable wet ditch. A brisk artillery fire was directed 
at the enemy's position for several hours, when General 
Lawler, who commanded a brigade of Carr's division 
of McClernand's corps, perceived a weak spot, which he 
proceeded to make the most of without waiting for 
orders. Near the river bank, screened by a heavy 
thicket, was a narrow crossing of the bayou, and on the 
other side was good footing from which to take the par- 
apet in flank. Detaching eleven hundred of his brigade, 
while the others were supported by a front attack, he 
led his forlorn hope across the open field under a heavy 
fire. The point of attack was unprovided with abatis 
for a space through which four men could pass abreast. 
Lawler's men rushed through the gap and almost with- 
out resistance the enemy were driven from the parapet. 
Abandoning their guns and throwing away their small 
arms, they fled, panic-stricken, in a wild rush as if 
to see which should reach the crossing first. In their 
wild terror the bridge was fired before half had crossed. 
Plunging in, some swam across, but many were drowned. 
Others remained in the trenches and surrendered. Pem- 
berton and the remains of his demoralized army con- 
tinued their fliorht. At ten o'clock that nitrht the crowd 
of tired fugitives poured into Vicksburg. The victory, 
which uncovered every road to the doomed city, cost 



BREAKING THE RULES OF WAR. 345 

Grant's army two hundred and sixty killed and wounded. 
The enemy lost seventeen hundred and fifty-one 
prisoners, eighteen cannon and five stands of colors. 
Their losses in killed and wounded were small. 

Bridges had to be built across the wide and deep 
river, and this gave Pemberton twelve hours' rest. By 
working all night several temporary but sufficient cross- 
ings were constructed, and on the morning of the i8th 
all three corps of the Federal army were on the west 
bank of the Big Black river, ready to move forward and 
complete the investment of the city. Although a con- 
siderable force of Confederates lay opposite Bridgeport, 
they decamped as soon as Sherman's advance appeared 
and the pontoons were laid and the corps thrown across 
without resistance. 

Early on the i8th Sherman moved forward, and, seiz- 
inof the Benton road, three miles and a half out of 
Vicksburg, cut off the last hope of communicating with 
Johnston's army. Here he halted until the other Union 
commanders had filled their places in the siege line. 
The army had already withdrawn from their works on 
Haines' Bluff, and a force was sent to take possession of 
them and open communications with the fleet. 

The latter, however, had already taken peaceable pos- 
session of the formidable works. The Fifteenth corps 
was thrown forward and seized the Walnut Hills, at the 
foot of which, on the Yazoo road, was established the 
base for supplying the army during the siege. McPher- 
son's corps held the centre and McClernand's the left 
of the line of investment. The whole army moving for- 
ward was now drawn as closely around the defences of 
the doomed city as prudence warranted. The enemy, 
having abandoned all outworks, all its communications 
destroyed and supplies cut off, was awaiting starvation 
within the interior fortifications. 



346 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

On April 30th Grant's advancing columns were landed 
at Bruinsburg. Sixty thousand men were within easy 
supporting distance to oppose his march. With an 
army never exceeding forty thousand he manoeuvred so 
as to befog them as to his point of attack and induce 
them to divide their forces. Outnumbering the detach- 
ments, he beat them in detail in five several battles, captur- 
ing twenty-seven heavy pieces of artillery, sixty-one field 
gnns and six thousand five hundred prisoners. At least 
six thousand other Confederates were killed and 
wounded. Besides fighting five battles he had marched 
over two hundred miles, and in twenty days had cooped 
up the remnant of the opposing army in a fortress out 
of which they were to come only as prisoners ot war. 
Starting without teams, such supplies as he obtained 
were drawn from the surrounding country and carried 
in wagons impressed from the hostile population with 
negroes for drivers. His own losses footed up four thou- 
sand, three hundred and thirty-five in killed, wounded 
and missing. As Grant and Sherman stood together on 
the parapet of Haines' Bluff the day of its capture, the 
latter, after looking mournfully at the defences which six 
months before defied his efforts to storm, turned abruptly 
and said: "Until this moment, I never thought your ex- 
pedition a success. I never could see the end clearly 
until now. But this is a campaign ; this is a success, if 
we never take the town." 

And General Sherman now. in speaking to the author 
of those remarkable movements which Grant conceived 
and pushed against the orders of the general-in-chief, 
says: "Grant's plan from the time he abandoned Halleck's 
idea of connecting with Banks and struck out Irom Grand 
Gulf was Napoleonic in conception and execution. 
His movements were in the nature of a lett wheel, 



BREAKING THE RULES OE WAR. 347 

SO directed as to prevent a junction between Johnston 
and Pemberton and at the same time take his own forces 
across the Black river. All the batdes that were fought 
were the natural accidents of that bold plan of cam- 
paign. I was not in favor of the movement from Young's 
Point as Grant made it. but preferred the land route 
by way of Grenada and Jackson. But all the movements 
that brought us to the investment of Vicksburg were 
skilfully made, and Grant was very proud of them, as 
he had a right to be. It was a bold departure from the 
theory df war as laid down in the books, but as each 
successive step brought us nearer and nearer to a suc- 
cessful investment of the objective, doubts were merged 
in admiration of the man who could so confidently begin 
such an undertaking, assume such responsibilities and 
succeed." 

In this remarkable campaign Grant shared the severest 
fortunes of his soldiers. His lot was their lot. On the 
floor of Congress, while the glory of Vicksburg was still 
fresh in the mind of the country, Hon. E. B. Washburne 
thus describes the spirit which moved the Commander 
durinor the sieg^e ; 

" When he left his head-quarters at Smith's plantation, 
below Vicksburg, to enter on that great campaign, he did 
not take with him the trappings and paraphernalia so 
common to many military men. As all depended on 
quickness of movement, and as it was important to be 
encumbered with as little baggage as possible, he set an 
example to all under him. He took with him neither a 
horse, nor an orderly, nor a servant, a camp-chest, an 
overcoat, nor a blanket, nor even a clean shirt. His en- 
tire baggage for six days — I was with him at that time — 
was a tooth-brush. He fared like the commonest soldier 
in his command, partaking of his rations, and sleeping 



348 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

upon the ground with no covering excepting the canopy 
of heaven. How could such a soldier fail to inspire 
confidence in an army, and how could he fail to lead it to 
victory and glory ? " 

General Grant's constitution was a remarkable one. 
He could endure great hardships. During the war he 
was in the prime of life and full of vigor and strength. 
This physical vitality probably assisted him greatly in 
keeping his mental faculties clear for any emergency 
that might arise. It also helped him to maintain his 
even and unalterable composure. No officer in the 
army could endure as much as he, and no soldier in the 
ranks could complain of the hardship he was forced to 
undergo, because the commander was quite ready to 
meet the same privations. 



Side-light. — The Grierson raid should not be ne- 
glected in dealing with the Vicksburg campaign. It 
was the most daring of the war. In its conception and 
success it may be said to be without a parallel in any 
war. The object was to start from La Grange, and make 
a diversion in favor of the army moving on Vicksburg. 
Public property and railroads were to be destroyed, and 
as much damage as possible done to Confederate re- 
sources. Accordingly, during March, Grierson moved 
on Ripley and crossed the Tallahatchie river. Detach- 
ments intended to deceive the enemy were sent in sev- 
eral directions. At Starksville a Confederate mail was 
captured which contained important information. On 
the 2 2d of March Grierson was at Louisville, and 
crossed the railroad at Newton. His route lay through 
Raleigh, where he cut the telegraph-wires and destroyed 
the bridees on throucrh to Union Court-House. Thence 



GI^IEESON'S RAID. 



349 



he turned southward on his course of destruction. By 
this time the Confederates had become alarmed at the 
path of ruin which he was cutting before him, and gath- 
ered in his rear to destroy him when he returned. He 
first met them at Oskya, and broke through ; and then 
by a quick turn through CHnton he reached Baton 
Rouge on the ist of May. He had made a most daring 
forward move directly into the heart of the enemy's 
country, had greatly damaged his railroads and his tel- 
egraph wires, and had utterly escaped punishment. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 

Vicksburg invested— Haines' Bluff occupied— The first assault— Union battle-flags 
on the counterscarp — The assault repulsed — Second assault— The city bombarded 

Picturesque scenes — Gallant charges — Again repulsed— Grant's army reinforced 

The siege lines tight drawn— Hardships of besiegers and besieged— Exploding 

the mines — Starving Confederates and civilians — Surrender proposed — The cor- 
respondence — A glorious Fourth of July — Terms of surrender — Sherman's pro- 
test returned — The Mississippi " unvexed to the sea." 

In the mighty operations which General Grant con- 
ducted for the opening of the Mississippi river to national 
control none were more important, strategic or interest- 
ing than the siege of Vicksburg. The city, sitting upon 
a line of bluffs from two to three hundred feet above the 
river, was well adapted for blockading the water-way and 
for defence against a land attack. The broad plateau 
which crowns the bluffs is four or five miles long and of 
an average width of two miles. Mere hills of clayey 
loam, the rains of ages have worn its surface into ir- 
regular chasms with precipitous, often almost perpen- 
dicular, sides. Forest trees, finding root in the clefts and 
fissures, added to the difficulties of the climber, who 
had to use his hands to aid in reaching the sum- 
mits. Across the eastern front the banks of a tributary 
of the irreat river formed the outer line of defence ol 
what in military parlance was the intrenched camp ot 
the Confederates. The northern front, where the hills 
are highest and most rugged, was so heavily fortified by 
nature as to make approach most difficult. In its 
southern aspect, where the plateau was flatter and more 

(350) 




VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON— SCENE OF GRANT'S GREAT VICTORY. 

(351) 



352 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

cleared and cultivated, the resources of the engineers 
had been taxed to the utmost to render the field-works 
impregnable. Wherever the ravines were insufficient 
substitutes for wet ditches, trees had been felled, forming 
abatis which rendered impossible unity of action in an 
attacking force. Four miles of the river front were fur- 
nished with numerous batteries mounted with heavy 
guns and innumerable rifle trenches. Such natural and 
artificial defences might well revive the courage of the 
panic-stricken regiments which poured into it after their 
rout at the Big Black bridge. 

Pemberton had left about eicjht thousand men to g-ar- 
rison the fortress while he operated beyond the works. 
These formed the nucleus around w^hich he reoro^anized 
his regiments. All told his forces numbered thirtv thou- 
sand, and with two hundred cannon he declared himself 
ready to stand a siege. In the matter of supplies he was 
not so well provided, but he reckoned upon the co-opera- 
tion of Johnston's army, which he confidently expected 
would be reinforced sufficiently to make an attack on 
Grant's rear and enable the garrison to cut its way out, 
if not actually raise the siege. 

When Grant first drew his lines around the beleag- 
uered city, his forces were too few for its complete in- 
vestment. To the northward the blockade was indeed 
unbroken, but the left of the line where McClernand's 
corps was posted did not reach the river by nearly two 
miles. Grant's total force which bivouacked in front 
of Yicksburg on the night of May iSth numbered 
thirty thousand men. They were so buoyant and eager 
after the uninterrupted series of victories of the previous 
twenty days that Grant believed himself justified in 
attempting to carry the works by storm. He thought 
diat the en(!niy, whose demoralization could be read in 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 353 

their broad trail of abandoned arms and equipments, 
would be incapable of any determined resistance. He, 
moreover, underestimated their numbers, believing- that 
Pemberton had no more than from twelve to fifteen 
thousand effective men. Accordingly the orders for 
assault on the 19th were given. The corps command- 
ers were called together and instructed minutely. After 
skirmishing forward carefully so as to gain the most 
advantageous positions possible in front of the works, 
at the signal of three successive volleys from all the 
artillery at precisely 2 p. m., assaulting parties were to 
attack along the whole line. In order that there might 
be no mistake in time, watches were set to conform to 
that of the general commanding. 

Sherman's skirmishing on the right gained important 
ground. Blair's division was pressed close under the 
works near a point upon which the artillery was playing 
to prepare the way for the charge. To the Thirteenth 
Regular infantry was assigned the important post of 
forlorn hope. At the appointed time this regiment 
forced its way gallandy through dense obstructions of 
standing and fallen timber, across deep and precipitous 
ravines, and finally planted its colors on the counter- 
scarp. Two volunteer regiments followed them closely 
in support and reached the same spot, although much 
disorganized by the obstructions. There, under a hail 
of leaden missiles, they maintained themselves with 
gallantry, the men firing at every head that appeared 
above the parapet. Although they retained their posi- 
tion with the utmost determination, they were unable 
to advance further and suffered very severely. The 
Thirteenth regulars alone lost seventy-seven of its two 
hundred and fifty officers and men, including Captain 
Washington, who commanded it. Blair's and Steele's 



X 



354 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

division, advancing in line, had halted further away 
from the hostile works, but the latter carried a number 
of outworks and made a few prisoners. McPherson's 
and McClernand's corps on the centre and left made 
even less progress. Ransom's brigade of the former 
corps indeed got close enough to make a brief but un- 
availinor attack on the works in its front. The irreeu- 
larity of the ground and the numerous obstructions 
prevented very close approach and night came before 
they were in position to obey Grant's orders for a general 
charge. Hence Blair's division was the only one which 
accomplished any part of its task. It failed to make 
any decided impression, although it maintained its ad- 
vanced position until Sherman ordered it to withdraw 
after nightfall. About the only results of the move- 
ment was the general advance of the whole line of in- 
vestment to positions much nearer the works, at which 
the assailants were covered from the enemy's fire. The 
determined character of the resistance indicated that the 
strength of the fortifications had already exerted an 
inspiriting influence upon Pemberton's almost disheart- 
ened men. The Union losses during the first assault, 
although never offijially reported, were estimated at 
less than five hundred. 

Although foiled in his expectation of storming the 
city, the operations were of great importance to Grant. 
He now knew the character and extent of tiie defences 
he had to battle with as well as the nature of the ground 
lie must operate upon. Advantageous positions for his 
artillery were selected and the relations of the various 
portions of his army were fully established and under- 
stood. He determined to give his tired soldiers some 
rest before again attempting to assault. He, however, 
still felt that carrying the place by storm would be worth 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 355 

the sacrifice of life it would entail. Johnston, gathering 
the scattered fragments of his army about Canton, was 
expecting reinforcements, which would enable him to 
relieve his beleaguered subordinate. The vast impor- 
tance the Confederate president and cabinet attached to 
the stronghold led Grant to apprehend that some of 
their eastern armies would be depleted to strengthen the 
relievinir force. In a short time lohnston mio^ht find him- 
self strong enough to attack him in the rear and raise 
the siege. Moreover, the operations of the 19th con- 
firmed him in the belief that a resolute and properly 
supported assault from the positions then gained would 
succeed, if made with vigor and co-operation. 

The 20th and 21st were spent in resting and refitting 
his warworn men. Abundant supplies were landed 
both at Chickasaw landing on the Yazoo and at Warren- 
ton on the Mississippi. On the 21st Admiral Porter at 
Grant's suggestion posted the mortar fleet within easy 
range and bombarded the water batteries and city for the 
entire day without intermission, dismounting several guns 
and killing and wounding a number of the garrison. 
Grant's artillery also joined in the cannonade without 
eliciting any response. Pemberton was already com- 
pelled to economize his ammunition and forbade artillery 
duels and picket firing. The bombardment had a very 
terrifying effect upon the civilians who were compelled 
to seek safety in caves dug into the hills. 

On May 2 2d the second assault was made. By pre- 
arrangement the gun and mortar boats opened on the 
city from the river throughout the night, while all of 
Grant's siege and field artillery joined in the cannonade 
at daylight. The bombardment was the most terrible 
of any during the siege. Throughout the dark hours 
the flashes of the mortars and naval ordnance, and the long 



356 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

meteor-like trails of the heavy missiles, cast a lurid glare 
upon the slope of the doomed city, girdled with the death 
dealino- fire. The shriek and hurde of descending bombs, 
the incessant reports as they exploded, made an experi- 
ence, the horrors of which are still fresh in the memories 
of those who were in the fortress that terrible night. 
With the first streak of daylight Grant's field and siege 
pieces opened. Every available cannon was brought to 
bear on the works and added its noisy clamor to the 
hellish scene. Sharpshooters pressing closely up under 
the parapets picked off the Confederate cannoneers 
whenever they tried to man their guns to reply to the 
frightful storm that was poured upon the devoted city. 
The bombardment was kept up until after ten o'clock 
when the troops began their fateful rush. 

Precisely at ten o'clock the Union line was ready for 
its share in the work of carnage. Storming columns in 
front of each point selected to be attacked, rushed for- 
ward at the same moment. Volunteers in the advance 
carried poles and boards to facilitate crossing the ditches. 
Moving pardally sheltered until near the works it be- 
came necessary to expose themselves for the final rush. 
Then from every foot of the parapet double ranks of the 
enemy poured in upon them a terrific fire of musketry, 
while double shotted cannon mowed the assailants down. 
In Sherman's front the advance column halted, wavered 
and sought cover, but Ewing's supporting brigade still 
pressed on. They leaped the ditch, climbed up the ex- 
terior slope and planted their colors on the parapet. The 
leaden hail poured down upon them became too hot to 
bear and die brigade, breaking, burrowed into the earth 
for shelter. The assault then had failed. Three hun- 
dred yards to the left Ransom's men pressed gallandy 
through all obstrucdons, only to be met with such a de- 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 357 

structive fire that they, too, sought the protection of the 
fallen timber from which they swept the hostile parapet 
with their Minie bullets. No lodgment was gained any 
where along Sherman's front. 

McPherson was no more successful. His men in some 
cases reached the parapet but with such depleted ranks, 
and so galled by the Confederate fire, that they could not 
maintain their places while the supporting regiments 
forced their way through the obstructions. The ap- 
proaches were so difficult that only a few men could be 
used, while the enemy concentrating there almost wiped 
out the pioneers. 

In McClernand's front the assault looked more hopeful. 
His artillery breached several points in the enemy's 
works and temporarily silenced two of the guns. The 
q-round, however, was too difficult to move the attackino- 
columns with effective co-operation and unity. Lawler's 
brigade with the same dash and vigor which won the 
battle at the Black River bridsje crossed the bridge and 
parapet of one of the outworks. It, however, received 
no assistance from its supporting troops and was unable to 
penetrate further. A detachment actually got into one 
of the works, but the enemy rallied and captured every 
man. Thus all along the line, although made with the 
utmost gallantry, the attack failed. The works were too 
strong naturally and artificially to be taken by storm. 
The difficulty of approaching was so great that enough 
men could not possibly be projected against any point 
to make successful entrance even when the parapets 
were gained, while the enemy was everywhere able to 
use his entire force. Regiments had planted their batde 
flags all along the works, and they still waved there, those 
without and those within being unable to remove them 
in the terrible leaden hail. The assault was over by 



358 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

noon, and Grant who watched from a commanding point 
behind McPherson's corps saw that he could not storm 
the stronghold. 

At twelve o'clock McClernand sent Grant this de- 
spatch : " We are hotly engaged with the enemy. We 
have part possession of two forts and the stars and stripes 
are floating over them. A vigorous push ought to be 
made all along the line." Grant, who had seen the repulse 
of McClernand, was inclined to doubt the success claimed 
and hesitated to renew the assault. Sherman, to whom 
he showed the despatch, unable to believe that McCler- 
nand would wilfully misstate, advised renewing the at- 
tack, and the order was unwillingly given to assault 
again at 2 p. m., unless previously countermanded. 
Other despatches reiterating the claim of advantages 
and ureinof greneral assault and reinforcements were 
sent by McClernand. Accordingly Ouinby's division 
was sent to him, and at 2 p. m. the entire Federal 
line again advanced. The second assault was made 
with all the desperate determination of the first, de- 
spite the terrible handling the troops then got. Breast- 
ing a terrible storm of shot and shell that strewed the ap- 
proaches with the dead and dying, the men again reached 
the opposing parapets only to be beaten back to the 
cover of the neighboring hillsides. There the storming 
parties stayed undl the friendly cover of night enabled 
them to withdraw. The second assault had no other 
result than doubling the already frightful casualties. 
Many valuable lives had been lost to gratify McCler- 
nand's eerotism. The P^ederals lost about three thousand 
in killed and wounded. The Confederates protected by 
their fortifications lost,it isestimated, about eight hundred. 

The delays and uncertainties of a siege were now 
forced upon the Federal commander. Every available 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 8.^9 

man from his department was at once hurried forward to 
put him in a position to complete the investment and at 
the same time hold Johnston in check on the line of the 
Big Black. His army, however, was almost wholly un- 
provided with material for a siege and his engineer 
organization was very defective. From the beginning to 
the end he had no siege artillery excepting four Parrott 
guns and a battery of naval guns loaned him by Admiral 
Porter. He relied upon the same field cannon that he 
had carried with him throughout the campaign. The re- 
inforcements which reached him from first to last con- 
sisted of two divisions of the Sixteenth Army corps, 
commanded by General Washburne, two divisions of the 
Ninth corps, commanded by Major General Parke, and 
General Herron's division from the Departn^ient of Mis- 
souri. Lauman's and Herron's divisions were posted 
to prolong the Federal line and complete the invest- 
ment of the city to the southward. Parke's two divi- 
sions were placed east of Haines' Bluff, which was forti- 
fied so as to prove an effective obstacle in case Johnston 
should approach by the route between the Yazoo and 
Bie Black rivers. 

The siege was now pressed with the utmost vigor. 
Forts, batteries and rifle pits were constructed along the 
entire front and winding ways made to afford the men 
cover in orettinof to and from the advanced works. The 
labor in the trenches was done chiefly by negroes, who 
worked cheerfully and faithfully. So close did some of 
these zigzags run to the hostile works that the enemy 
rolled hand grenades down the parapet upon the work- 
ers. Although the euQ-ineerincr work was done by offi- 
cers and men wholly uninstructed in the art and science 
of sieges, native good sense and ingenuity supplied the 
place of theoretical knowledge. In all eight separate 



360 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

approaches were made, two of them ending- in mines. 
Twelve miles of trenches and eighty-nine batteries 
were constructed. In the latter were two hundred and 
twenty guns, chiefly field pieces. 

After the second assault the defence was very feeble. 
Toward the close of the siege the enemy scarcely re- 
turned the artillery fire. Their aim seemed to be to 
await another assault, meanwhile losinsf as few men and 
expending as little ammunition as possible. At exposed 
points they occasionally concentrated a heavy musketry 
fire. 

General Alvin P. Hovey, whose division of the Thir- 
teenth corps lay in front of one of these exposed points, 
relates an incident which, as it throws some light on 
Grant's insensibility to danger, is worth repeating. 

"I thought Grant was somewhat of a fatalist," said 
General Hovey. "While in front of Vicksburg, it was 
the custom of commanding officers of divisions to visit 
their works every day while their head-quarters were 
securely posted in some ravine near by. On my front 
it was necessary to pass through a narrow way or val- 
ley which had shrubbery on each side. This open place 
was twenty-five or thirty yards wide, and in full view of 
the enemy. Nobody could pass this place without a salute 
from the Confederates. I never went over without put- 
ting spurs to my horse and hugging his neck as closely 
as possible. One morning early General Grant called 
at my head-quarters and asked me to show him the con- 
dition of the works in my front. When we came to the 
edge of the open space I said: 'General, when I pass 
over this open space the enemy always salutes me, and 
I dash the horse across at full speed.' 

" He replied with his characteristic terse calmness, 
and deliberate!)' walked his horse over. I walked over 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 361 

also, as I was constrained to do, and we received a rat- 
tling salute from the enemy. The bullets whistled 
around with more familiarity than was agreeable to me, 
but Grant smoked as composedly as though on dress 
parade. 

" The breastworks of the division I commanded then 
reached within less than two hundred yards of the 
enemies' ramparts. We had mined almost to their 
lines, and they had run countermines on their side to 
ours. We were so close to the enemy that the soldiers 
would often place their hats on the point of a bayonet 
and raise them above our breastworks to receive a 
shower of bullets. Arriving at this point, Grant took 
his field orlass and raised his head and breast above the 
level of the fortifications. I begged him not to do so. 
That he was not shot was almost a miracle. I afterward 
remonstrated with him on thus exposing himself, telling 
him the loss to the country would be irreparable should 
he fall. As I remarked before, he seemed impressed 
with that thing called destiny, and carelessly said, ' O, 
they can't hurt me.' 

On June 17th General Grant received from Generals 
Sherman and McPherson letters calling attention to a 
congratulatory order issued by McClernand to his corps 
on May 30th, after the second assault, which contained 
insinuations against his fellow corps commanders to the 
effect that the second assault had failed through lack of 
co-operadon on their part. Both Sherman and McPher- 
son branded these insinuations as false, and asked the 
commander of the army to interfere. The production 
complained of had been published in northern papers, 
and in fact seemed like a stump speech to the general's 
political constituents at home. Through it ran a vein 
of self-glorification as the inspirer, author and chief 



362 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

executor of the successes tliat had been achieved by the 
army of the Tennessee since he joined it. Grant sent 
the newspaper copy to McClernand to know if it were 
correct, and if not, for him to send a correct copy to the 
general head-quarters. McClernand sent the desired 
copy and next morning Grant relieved him of the com- 
mand of the Thirteenth army corps, and ordered him 
home. Major-General E. O, C. Ord was appointed to 
command the corps In his stead, subject to the approval 
of the President. 

Thus ended the trouble between Grant and liis arro- 
gant subordinate, which began at Cairo and had been a 
source of increasing annoyance ever since. His over- 
weening self-esteem led him to overrate his military tal- 
ents, and he had been using his political InHuence, which 
was crreat, to advance himself to \\vA\ commands. In 
this he succeeded so far that the President actually 
assigned him to the conimand of what was to be an 
Independent expedition to capture Yicksburg and open 
the Mississippi river. Fortunately Halleck shared 
Grant's distrust of his vainglorious subordinate and 
strengthened his hand by giving him the power to com- 
mand the troops in his own department in his own way. 
The latter, however, continued his insubordinate acts, 
which culminated In the offensive order and his removal 
from active command. Grant had been very patient with 
McClernand. Besides his political Influence, he possessed 
bravery, and had he been content to do his duty, he would 
have been spared the humiliation wliich fell upon him. 
Mr, Dana, in communicating in relation to this to the W^ar 
Department, said : " My own judgment Is that McCler- 
nand has not the qualities necessary for a commander 
even of a regiment," 

After the second assault. Grant determined to wait for 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 363 

the prey wliich was certain to fall into his hands in due 
time. So he setded down to begin the famous forty 
days' siege which ended in the fall of the Confederate 
stronghold. These days of watching and waiting were 
full of important and interesting events, the result of 
which would fill a volume. With the explosion of mines 
and the general operations incident to a siege the army 
was kept actively employed. 

Even before the second assault the condidon of the 
penned-up army and the residents of the beleaguered 
city had become extremely trying. Although he had de- 
clared the city provisioned for sixty days, Pemberton 
already found it necessary to place his men on half 
rations. Despatches which he sent to Johnston were 
intercepted and showed that he was short of percussion 
caps, but that his men were in good spirits notwithstand- 
ing short rations. He earnestly urged his superior to 
hasten to his relief. 

On June 25th Grant fired a mine which had been 
sunk under the hostile parapet in front of Ransom's 
division. The mine proper, thirty-five feet in length, 
with several branches, contained fifteen hundred pounds 
of powder. Fuses arranged so as to fire all branches 
at once were ignited at 3 p. m. A heavy cannonading 
prefaced the explosion, which was successful in all 
respects. Immense masses of earth shot up into the 
air, and amongst the flying wreck could be seen the 
bodies of the men who had garrisoned the spot. One 
or two of them came down alive inside of the Federal 
lines. Most of the men, however, had been removed 
to the interior works in anticipation of the explosion, 
so the loss of life was not as great as was expected. 
The cavity produced was large enough to hold two reg- 
iments, and a column of infantry concealed near by 



?M LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

rushed forward to gain possession of die breach. The 
enemy met them gallantly in the crater, but after a des- 
perate struggle were driven back to their covering 
works. Thence they threw grenades and hand-lighted 
bombs into the midst of the troops occupying the cavity, 
with such success that it was christened " the death-hole." 
The ground gained, however, was held, and the opening 
was used as a point from which to run other mines. 

As long before as June iith Grant had told Sher- 
man of his apprehensions that Johnston might collect 
sufficient force to annoy him seriously, if, indeed, he did 
not succeed in raising the siege. He suspected that 
reinforcements would be hurried up from Bragg's 
army, in which case he told Sherman that he would be 
detached from the command of his corps and given 
sufficient force to check any advance from that quarter. 
At the same time the lines of the besieging army were 
so drawn and fortified as to resist any possible attack 
from the rear. 

On June 27th Grant received positive information 
that Johnston had crossed the Big Black and intended 
to march at once upon the army besieging Vicksburg. 
Sherman immediately began a defensive line of field 
works from the Yazoo to the Big Black river. With a 
force composed of a division from each of the army 
corps he manned these works, and by strong reconnoi- 
tering j)arties, pushed far out, effectually counteracted 
Johnston's plans. 

On July 1st a second mine, run from the crater made 
by the first, was ready to spring. It had been better 
located and the explosion effectually demolished the 
redan of the defensive work and killed or wounded 
many of those manning it. No serious attempt, how- 
ever, was made to char^'e throui'h the breach thus 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 365 

made. Other mines were being sunk and exploded 
daily, and die fortress was rapidly nearing its doom. 

It was about the time when the siege was wellnigh 
drawing to an end, that General Ouinby, his classmate 
and life-long friend, was going North on sick-leave. 
Ouinby had called to bid his commander good-bye, and 
Grant had insisted upon his having lunch with him. 
The two sat down, talking over the situation before 
Vicksburg, when Ouinby asked the question : 

"Are you eoine to make another assault? " 

"No, sir," Grant replied. "I could capture the city 
with a hard batde, but it is bound to fall into my 
hands without the loss of life, and if there is any one 
thing that gives me pain, it is the needless sacrifice of a 
single soldier." 

General Ouinby describes Grant's discussion of the 
destructive phase of war as very touching indeed, and 
adds that no man living was easier moved by suffering 
and death than Grant, but that he had that high degree 
of moral courage to understand that campaigns should 
not be begun, any more than wars declared, without 
counting the cost and being prepared to do whatever 
was required to win. 

Recalling again General Quinby's visit to Grant on 
the day he came to bid his commander good-bye, the 
simple character of the man is again illustrated : 

" Grant was very shabbily clad," said General Ouinby, 
"having on only a rusty blouse-like coat, without orna- 
ment, and a pair of flannel pants that were torn from 
the ankle clear up to the knee. 

"As I arose to go, I said, ' General, is there anything 
I can do for you at the North ? ' 

" He looked down at his drawers showing through 
the rent in his trousers, and said : 



3G6 LIFE OF GENERAL GRAXT. 

" 'Well, I suppose I ought to send an order for a new 
suit of clothes by you.' But, after a moment's thought, 
he concluded : 

" 'I guess it is not necessary; my trunk will be here 
in a few days, and I will find something in it.' " 

One of the most important reminiscences related of 
General Grant during the siege, refers to Mr. Charles 
A. Dana, then Assistant Secretary of War. He was 
with Grant during all these important operations, con- 
stantly communicating to the War Department upon his 
movements. He was an interestino- fiorure about Grant's 
head-quarters, and in the little knots of prominent offi- 
cers who came there for business or to visit he was a 
great deal of his time to be found. On one of those 
hazy, lazy evenings in early June, in that peculiar condi- 
tion of the Southern climate when the moon is softened 
by the mist, there was gathered at General McFeely's 
tent, under the pine awning built in front, General Grant, 
General Sherman, McPherson, Mr. Dana and two or 
three others. General Grant and Mr. Dana were the 
chiefs of the conversation, and Grant was talking about 
some experience in the Mexican war, when Mr. Dana 
asked him his opinion of the sound strategy of a certain 
move, when Grant replied : 

" Mr. Dana, I do not believe very much in what is 
called strategy. My experience and observation have 
led me to the conclusion that the army capable of 
holding its position longest is surest to win. I have 
known two armies after a fight to march awa\' from 
each other, both believing they were whipped, while 
neither one was. The general who fights with the sin- 
gle purpose of maiiUaininu; his ground or advancing his 
position is on the right track. I can illustrate by the 
situation here. I have a line nearl)- twenty miles long. I 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 367 

mayfig"ht any part of it any given day without the entire 
army knowing the meaning or result of the movement. 
Unless I am compelled to abandon my position there is 
practically nothing lost if I hold on to any given point 
in the general plan. What is most useful to soldiers is 
to thoroughly understand that when a position is once 
taken, it is to be held. More battles are lost from a 
failure on the part of commanders to understand this 
maxim and to impress it upon their subordinates than 
from most other reasons combined." 

Grant then said that there was a orreat deal of differ- 
ence in troops ; that the Confederates were naturally 
more mercurial than the Northern men ; that they were 
ferocious and terrible to withstand in an assault, but 
that their best work was done under the impulse of a 
charo-e rather than in the wearino- and tearine duties 
of a great battle or of an important campaign. 

It was during these days of anxiety and momentous 
events that Grant appeared at his best, and Mr. Dana, 
who is now the most competent witness as to the acts of 
the men of that period, gives this mature judgment of 
the man whose abilities he was then studying : 

" My impressions of Grant at that time, and during 
that whole campaign, were, that he was a man of ex- 
traordinary common sense, and of sincere and unaffected 
patriotism." 

It is well to bear in mind that Mr. Dana was occupy- 
ing at this time exceedingly important relations with the 
army in the Mississippi valley. The War Department 
was not entirely satisfied with the terse reports General 
Grant was making. His crisp messages to the seat of 
government or direct replies sent to questions asked by 
the General-in-Chief were not full enough to meet the 
anxiety of the authorities as to his movements. There- 



368 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

fore the President and Secretary of War directed Mr. 
Dana to remain with him and report upon mihtary trans- 
actions. General Grant spoke freely to the Assistant 
Secretar}' of War about his plans, and in an exceptional 
degree he occupied a point of observation of great value 
to one whose sole business it was to learn all he possibly 
could of the operations of the entire army. Mr. Dana's 
directions are embodied in this telegram from Secretary 
Stanton : 

" You will proceed to General Grant's head-quarters, 
or wherever you may best be able to accomplish the 
purposes designated by this department. You will con- 
sider your movements to be governed by your own dis- 
cretion, without any restriction." 

Under these directions I\Ir. Dana acted, and his de- 
spatches in relation to the operations along the Missis- 
sippi have been of great value to the writer in following 
the story of the campaign. 

Mr. Dana's relations with General Grant must have 
been cordial, for on June 5th Secretary Stanton tele- 
graphed him : " Everytliing in the power of this Govern- 
ment will be put forth to aid General Grant. The 
emergency is not underrated here. Your telegrams are 
a great obligation, and are looked for with deep interest. 
I cannot thank you as much as I feel for the service you 
are now rendering." The despatches to which the Sec- 
retary o{ War alluded cover a wide range of observation, 
and give a clear insight into General Grant's military 
character. 

Long before the end of June l\Ir. Dana reported to 
the Government that the condition of the garrison and 
residents of the city was now deplorable in the extreme. 
Meat had become so scarce that quarter rations of mule 
flesh, with very insufficient quantities of corn meal and 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 369 

bean coffee, were all the soldiers got. The number of 
able-bodied defenders had been greatly reduced by cas- 
uakies, but even more by sickness, the result of cease- 
less vigils in the trenches under a burning sun and insuf- 
ficient lood. The civilians were in even worse plight, 
subjected day and night to the perils of a continuous 
cannonade from land and water, hiding in caves to 
escape the deadly missiles exploding in their streets. 
On July 1st, the day of the explosion of the second 
mine, Pemberton, convinced that resistance could not 
be much prolonged, called a council of his generals and 
asked their opinion as to the possibility of abandoning 
the fortress. All decided that evacuation was impossi- 
ble, and two ol them recommended surrender. 

Two days afterward, on July 3d, Pemberton de- 
spatched the following letter to Grant. 

" I have the honor to propose to you an armistice of 
— hours, with a view to arranging terms for the capitu- 
lation of Vicksburg. To this end, if agreeable to you, 
I will appoint three commissioners, to meet a like num- 
ber to be named by yourself, at such place and hour as 
you may find convenient. I make this proposition to 
save the further effusion of blood, which must otherwise 
be shed to a frightful extent, feeling myself fully able 
to maintain my position for a yet indefinite period. 
This communication will be handed you, under a flag 
of truce, by Major-General John S. Bowen." 

Under the protection of a white flag General Bowen 
was admitted to the lines of General A. J. Smith about 
ten o'clock in the morning. He earnestly desired to 
converse personally with Grant, but this was not permit- 
ted. The Federal commander, however, indicated that 
if General Pemberton desired to meet him, an interview 
between the lines could be had at 3 p. m. The reply to 

Y 



370 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Pemberton's letter, returned by General Bowen, was as 
follows : 

"Your note of this date is just received proposing an 
armistice for several hours for the purpose of arranging 
terms for capitulation through commissioners to be ap- 
pointed, etc. The useless effusion of blood you pro- 
pose stopping by this course can be ended at any time 
you choose, by the unconditional surrender of the city 
and garrison. Men who have shown so much endurance 
and courage wdll always command the respect of an ad- 
versary, and I can assure you will be treated with all the 
respect due to prisoners of war. I do not favor the prop- 
osition of appointing commissioners to arrange terms 
of capitulation, because I have no terms other than those 
indicated above." 

At three o'clock a signal gun from the Federal side, an- 
swered by one from the Confederates, heralded the com- 
ing of Grant and Pemberton to their fateful interview. 
The Union commander was attended by Generals Ord, 
McPherson, Logan and A. J. Smith, and several members 
of his personal staff. Pemberton was accompanied by 
General Bowen and Colonel Montgomery. They met 
under the canopy of a giant oak. The spot had not 
been trodden by either army during the siege. After 
introduction and handshaking General Pemberton said : 

" General Grant, I meet you in order to arrange terms 
for the capitulation of the city of Vicksburg and its gar- 
rison. What terms do you demand ? " 

"Unconditional surrender," Grant replied. 

"Unconditional surrender?" said Pemberton. "If 
that is all, the conference can terminate at once and 
hostilities be resumed immediately," 

" Very well. Tiien you can continue the defence," 
Grant replied, coolly puffing his cigar and turning away. 

























(371) 



372 LipE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General Bowen here proposed the retirement of the 
subordinates present for consultation about such terms 
as they might submit to their chief. Grant had no ob- 
jection to the subordinates consulting, but declined to be 
bound by any of these proposals. The decision of the 
terms he said lay with himself. General Bowen after 
consultation proposed that the garrison be permitted to 
march out with the honors of war, taking their arms and 
field artillery. This Grant refused with a smile. After 
the conference had lasted an hour Pemberton withdrew, 
Grant promising to send his ultimatum by ten o'clock 
that night. 

Certain that Pemberton would capitulate, he turned 
his attention towards the destruction of the remaining 
Confederate forces in the State. "Make}our calcula- 
tions to attack Johnston, and destroy the road north of 
Jackson. I have directed Steele and Ord to move as 
you suggested the moment Vicksburg is surrendered. 
I want Johnston broken up as effectually as possible. 
You can make ycur own arrangements, and have all the 
troops in my command except one corps," he said to 
Sherman, Thus, while conducting the negotiations for 
the capitulation of \'icksburg, he at the same time 
turned his attention to the destruction of Johnston's 
army. 

Grant the same afternoon summoned his irenerals to 
a conference. With the single exception of General 
Steele, they all suggested terms tb.at he would not sanc- 
tion. He wrote the following, which contains in the main 
the terms afterward accepted : 

"In conformity with the agreement of this afternoon, 
I will submit the following proposition for the surrender 
of the city of Vicksburg, public stores, etc. On your 
accepting the terms proposed. I will march in one divis- 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 373 

ion as a guard and take possession at 8 a. m. to- 
morrow. As soon as rolls can be made out, and paroles 
signed by officers and men, you will be allowed to march 
out of our lines, the officers taking with them their side 
arms and clothing, and the field, staff and cavalry officers 
one horse each. The rank and file will be allowed all 
their clothing, but no other property. If these conditions 
are accepted, any amount of rations you may deem 
necessary can be taken from the stores you now have, 
and also the necessary cooking utensils for preparing 
them. Thirty wagons also, counting two horse or mule 
teams as one, will be allowed to transport such articles 
as cannot be carried along. The same conditions will 
be allowed to all sick and wounded officers and soldiers 
as fast as they become able to travel. The paroles for 
these latter must be signed, however, whilst officers are 
present authorized to sign the roll of prisoners." 

Pemberton, replying, asked the following modifica- 
tions: "At lo A. M. to-morrow I propose to evacuate 
the works in and around V^icksburo-, and to surrender 
the citv and o-arrison under mv command bv marchincr 
out with my colors and arms, stacking them in front of 
my present lines, after which you will take possession. 
Officers to retain their side arms and personal property, 
and the rights and property of citizens to be respected." 

To this, which Grant received after midnight, he re- 
turned immediate answer to the effect that every^ officer 
and man must be provided with a parole signed by him- 
self. It further stated: "Again I can make no stipu- 
lations with regard to the treatment of citizens and 
their private property. While I do not propose to 
cause them any undue annoj'ance or loss. I cannot con- 
sent to leave myself under any restraint by stipulations. 
. . . If you mean, by your proposition, for each brigade 



374 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

to march to the front of the lines now occupied by 
it, and stack arms at lo o'clock a. m., and then return 
to the inside and there remain as prisoners until prop- 
erly paroled, I will make no objections to it. Should no 
notification be received of your acceptance of my terms 
by 9 A. M., I shall regard them as rejected, and shall 
act accordingly. Should these terms be accepted, white 
flags should be displayed along your lines to prevent 
such of my troops as may not have been notified, trom 
firing upon your men." 

Pemberton next morning communicated his accept- 
ance of the terms proposed. At ten o'clock the garrison 
marched out of the citadel they had so long defended, 
stacked their arms and marched back again as prisoners 
of war. Thirty-one thousand six hundred men — one 
hundred and seventy-two cannon — a capture unparal- 
leled in modern warfare — were the personal and material 
trophies of the victory. 

It was on the national holiday that Logan rode into 
the city at the head of his division, General Grant and 
his staff ridiner with him, and the battle-flaor of the Fortv- 
fifth Illinois was thrown to the breeze over the court- 
house. It was a royal celebration of the day. A great 
step had been taken towards the re-establishment of 
national unity, and the day and the event were in happy 
harmony. But there was no undue exultation displayed 
by the victors. Sadly and quietly the Confederates, who 
had tlefended the fortress by the river for so long a time 
and so gallantly, laid down their arms and their battle- 
flags, and were changed from active combatants into 
prisoners of war. Soon, however, the American spirit 
overcame the first chagrin, and conquerors and con- 
quered fraternized In the streets of the city. Indeed, it 
was a marked characteristic of the war that the private 



VICKSBURG SURRENDERED. 375 

soldiers of both armies seemed to cherish no animosities 
towards each other. 

In quite striking contrast was the conduct of Pember- 
ton when Grant rode to his head-quarters. The defeated 
commander added the imbeciUty of inciviiity to the list 
of blunders which had been of his committing from the 
time he first undertook the defence of Vicksburg. He 
was disagreeable and surly in manner, and did not even 
offer the Federal commander the courtesy of a chair. 
But Grant was supremely indifferent to such an exhi- 
bition of petty pique. He transacted his business with 
Pemberton and then rode away again, quite undisturbed 
by the smallness of his defeated antagonist. It was at 
this interview that Grant learned, considerably to his 
surprise, that instead of fifteen or twenty thousand, as 
he had supposed, Pemberton had surrendered thirty-two 
thousand men. That night he telegraphed the news of 
his victory to Washington in a few terse sentences, 
wholly different from the military rodomontade which 
seems to be the special weakness of commanders after 
a conquest. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 

The importance of Vicksburg to the Confederacy — The countr>' it commanded 

Grant's forward movement — I'emberton's inability to grasp the bitualion — His utter 
failure to make any proper resistance — Johnston fails to take active command — 
Blunder after blunder — More tentative operations — Tlie final surrender. 

General Thomas Jordan thus tells the Confederate 
stor\' of Vicksburg : 

"'Thecit}^of Vicksburg was important to the Con- 
federates on account of its railroad connections ; the 
Vicksburg and Jackson railroad connecting it with all of 
the Southern Confederacy east of the Mississippi river, 
and the Vicksburg and Shreveport railroad connecting 
it with all the country west of that great stream.' 
Such is the brief summar)^ made of the military- value of 
Vicksburg to the Confederates, by General Grant, in the 
opening of his personal memoirs, contributed recently to 
the Century. This, certainly, is a \^vy meagre estimate 
of the importance of a position, the loss of which 
involved the complete severance of the States of the 
Southern Confederacy, eastward of the Mississippi, from 
those to the westward of it ; also the immediate loss of 
the States of Mississippi and Louisiana, with the early 
fall of Mobile, thus exposed to be approached and 
attacked from the rear. Understanding how vitally the 
territorial integrity of the seceded States depended upon 
the possession of such a position as that of Vicksburg, 
within a fortnight after the batdc of Shiloh, General 
Beauregard dispatched thither his alter co-o as an 
engineer, Captain D. B. Harris, with written instruc- 
(^76) 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. Til 

tions to carefully reconnoitre the locality, and to erect 
the proper works for a garrison of about three thousand 
men, and to be garrisoned chiefly with eight or ten eight- 
and ten-inch guns, and fifteen forty-two-pounders. He 
also called attention to the possibility that a canal might be 
cut by the enemy across the peninsula, immediately op- 
posite to Vicksburg. and directed the provision of works, 
looking to that condngency. He also sought to have 
added to the defensive resources of the position, which the 
military engineers might be able to provide, those of the 
Confederate navy on the Mississippi river, including 
not only the ' heaviest steam rams ' at Fort Pillow, 
but a large ironclad, the Arkansas, under construction 
at Memphis, which was sent, by his orders, to be finished 
in the Yazoo river. 

"After McClernand had secured authority from Mr. 
Lincoln to raise a special command to take Vicksburg, 
General Grant suddenly dropped the defensive policy, 
which had hitherto thickly studded West Tennessee 
and North Mississippi with large separate Federal com- 
mands, which, in the aggregate, embraced about seventy- 
four thousand rank and file, with a hundred and fifty odd 
pieces of field ardllery. He ordered Sherman to pro- 
ceed on transports with about thirty-four thousand men, 
including some twelve thousand from the Trans- 
Mississippi forces, down the river from Memphis 
against Vicksburg, which he was to assail from 
the Yazoo river, assisted by a fleet of gun-boats 
under D. D. Porter. Contemporaneously, the Federal 
general was to move with forty-five thousand men by 
land upon Jackson, Mississippi, to relieve Sherman of 
the possibility of having to deal with any other enemy 
than the comparatively small force at and near \'icks- 
burg. Thus hurriedl}' dispatched from Memphis on 



378 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the 20th, Sherman disembarked eight miles up the 
Yazoo river, on the 26th of December, to undertake an 
enterprise that Mr. Lincoln certainly had given into the 
hands of his friend, McClernand. In order to divert 
and occupy the bulk of the Confederate forces in Mis- 
sissippi elsewhere than in defense of \'icksburg, General 
Grant very properly, as since shown, had set in motion 
some forty odd thousand men upon Jackson, leaving. 
unquestionably, at Corinth and the southward in West 
Tennessee more than fifteen thousand men of all arms. 
However, meanwhile, the Confederate cavalry general, 
Forrest, afterwards so conspicuous a figure in the war 
in the West, had suddenly made his appearance with 
about two thousand men, and a horse batter)^ of four 
light guns in the quarter of Jackson, West Tennessee. 
or in the very centre of the Union forces so plentifully 
posted in that region. This petty force of badly-armed 
(fowling-pieces, chiefly), but well-mounted, swift-mov- 
ing Confederates, w-ell acquainted with the country', was 
handled with such skill, audacity and intrepidity that 
fast-flying rumor magnified it into a body of from five 
to ten thousand men. or even more, with twelve pieces 
of artillery, the supposed advance of Bragg's whole 
army from Middle Tennessee. 

" Simultaneously a body of Confederate cavaln,-. under 
Van Dorn. moved northward around Grant's left flank, 
and by a brilliantly executed coup dc main captured the 
Federal chief depot of supplies at Holly Springs, with its 
garrison of 3.000 men together with a large quantity of 
army supplies. Thus coevally attacked in his rear at 
several points, the Federal general-in-chief was led to 
pause in his own offensive movement southward and 
turn his attention to what was happening northward. 
That is to say, he virtually felt obliged to leave Sherman's 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 379 

venture unsupported, and therefore to fail or fall short 
of its purpose, as it did. In the several efforts which 
Sherman made to carry the Confederate works at Haines' 
Bluff, suffice to say, he was easily buffeted back with 
heavy loss. Thereupon he retired from the Yazoo river 
without having made a serious effort to employ the 
considerable resources at his command commensurably 
with their strength, character, and military value in the 
operations intrusted to him by Halleck and Grant in 
preference to McClernand chosen for the same work 
by President Lincoln. 

" Turning now to the Confederate situation, it is to be 
related that on the 24th of November, 1862, w^ith a 
special view to the best possible employment of Con- 
federate resources against their strenuous adversary in 
the West, General Joseph E. Johnston w^as assigned to 
the chief command of all the troops in the States of Ten- 
nessee, Alabama, and Mississippi — that is to say, the 
armies severally under Bragg, Kirby Smith and Pem- 
berton. That same day Johnston pointed out to the 
Confederate Secretary of War, in a personal interview, 
that as the Confederate forces were then disposed, 
Vicksbure was in danger of fallinir into the hands of the 
United States. 

" On the other hand, he asserted that by a proper 
concentration of available resources, a materially 
superior force could be collected in that quarter, 
and employed in a decisive offensive operation against 
General Grant, whose numbers, curiously enough, 
he estimated at forty-five thousand — about the force 
with which, we are told. Grant actually moved south- 
ward several weeks later against Jackson. This, he 
explained, made it essential to transfer, at once, the 
chief part of Holmes' forces in Arkansas across to 



380 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Mississippi to unite with those under Pemberton. Fur- 
thermore, that in the offensive operations which should 
then ensue against Grant, the army under Bragg, 
in Middle Tennessee, must co-operate. Under every 
aspect this was as sound as feasible a plan of campaign, 
and itwas essentially assented to by Mr. Davis ; for, upon 
reaching Chattanooga, on the 4th of December, John- 
ston found there a telegram from the Confederate War 
Office to the effect that General Holmes had been 
' peremptorily ordered to re-inforce Pemberton.' The 
same dispatch, however, suggested that as at that time 
Pemberton was being forced southward by superior 
numbers. Holmes' troops might reach the scene too 
late to save Vicksburg ; therefore, it was the view of 
Mr. Davis that at so critical an exigency suitable rein- 
forcements should be sent from Bragg's army. 

"This assuredly well-grounded apprehension, with 
the suecrestion born of it, was met, however, bv his 
nothincf-if-not contrarious lieutenant with the hardlv 
accurate assertion that Holmes' troops could be brought 
across from Arkansas sooner than a similar force could 
be thrown to Pemberton's aid from Murfreesboro ; a 
statement to which he added the declaration that he 
' would not weaken Bragg's army without e.xpress 
orders to do so.' Now this was a determination reached 
per saltinn before he had either visited Biagg's head- 
quarters or otherwise made himself acquainted with the 
military situation in that immediate theatre of war. 
Furthermore, j:his stand was taken in the face of his own 
opinion, expressed in Richmond only a fortnight pre- 
viously, that Vicksburg was in danger, while by a swift 
concentration of Confederate resources in that quarter 
Grant's army might be annihilated. Therefore, John- 
ston's course, in effect, was a whollv imsound. fatal 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 381 

choice between the transient preservation of the false, 
over-salient, comparatively valueless position of Mur- 
freesboro (with possession of a small part of Middle 
Tennessee), and the cardinal position of Vicksburg, the 
loss of which must carry that also of Arkansas, West 
Louisiana and Texas, as well as the w^hole State of 
Mississippi, to the Confederate States. 

" Naturally most anxious for the safety of Vicksburg, 
Mr. Davis, himself, hastened after Johnston to Chat- 
tanooga to consult with that officer as to the means for 
meeting the perilous urgencies of the situation in 
Mississippi, with no other result than to find him, as 
always, a pessimist, and indisposed to concentrate the 
resources of his own command to oppose Grant. There- 
upon, the Confederate President repaired to Bragg's 
headquarters, where Johnston's subordinate readily de- 
cided that he could spare two divisions aggregating nine 
thousand men. 

"At this time the Confederate forces in Mississippi 
under General Pemberton embraced a force of about 
twenty-three thousand men on the line of the Talla- 
hatchee river confronting Grant, then preparing to 
move upon Jackson, and some seven thousand men 
constituting the garrison of Vicksburg and its outposts, 
wath five thousand more at Port Hudson ; or, in all, 
some thirty-five thousand men. 

" Now, clearly, when assuming the large command de- 
volved upon him, there was imposed with it upon General 
Johnston the exigent duty to evoke every possible re- 
source within the territorial limits assigned to his charge, 
to be employed wheresoever within those limits the ex- 
ertion of those resources should be productive of the 
greatest military results. It was his first dut\', more- 
over, to decide in what quarter it was most vital to the 



382 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Confederate States that an army should be concentrated 
with which he could hope to meet and signally beat his 
adversary. x'\s we have seen, before leaving Richmond, 
he had rightly comprehended that Vicksburg was pre- 
cisely such a point ; that is, the position most in peril, and 
at the same time the one upon which an army might be 
readily concentrated so superior to the one that menaced 
it, that the latter could be destroyed. It is true, how- 
ever, that he depended for the ability to make such a 
stroke upon the acquisition of a considerable force from 
a source entirely outside of his own immediate control, 
one whose timely presence he could not command and 
does not appear ever to have sought to assure, even 
when the Confederate President had peremptorily or- 
dered its transfer to his command at his suggestion. In 
this way solely did it appear to him that \ icksburg could 
be saved ; that is, by troops brought from Arkansas and 
added to those under Pemberton, and he obdurately 
closed his judgment against the necessity for providing 
any other shield to the imperiled position whose value to 
the Confederate States was so great. I assert with all 
confidence that, if necessary to save V^icksburg, Bragg's 
whole army should have been transferred to Mississippi 
and the way left open even for Rosecrans. if he chose at 
that time to make the movement that he made ulti- 
mately, forcing Bragg out of Middle Tennessee. 

" Returning to the offensive movements of the Union 
campaign, it is to be said that with the sole exception 
that the capture of Vicksburg was the ultimate object, 
there was no settled plan of operations. A series of 
purely tentative e.xpeditions. these randoni ventures 
were essayed apparently with the hope that some one of 
them might touch and pierce a weak spot in the Con- 
federate defences. In this wa)- three nionths were 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 383 

occupied, as General Grant states, 'in trying to get 
upon the high land, and also waiting for the waters of 
the Mississippi, which were very high this winter, to 
recede.' 

"The first of these enterprises was that of cutting 
the canal anticipated by Beauregard some ten months 
previously, and directed to be provided against. 
Probably this work was undertaken in deference to 
suggestions from Washington. One or more corps 
were thus employed. As early as the 2d of February, 
however. Grant wrote to Halleck that he had ' lost 
faid.i ' in the attainment of any practical results from this 
enterprise. However, he also announced his purpose 
then and subsequendy to push it to completion with all 
available means. And in fact, for quite two months 
thereafter, large detachments of his army, with gangs of 
negroes and dredging-machines, were kept industriously 
occupied by this labor, which the Federal general had 
come to regard as of no possible worth. Moreover, 
this was done in the face of military reasons that would 
seem to make it incumbent upon a general in the field 
to abandon such an undertaking, for already General 
Grant could but see that, as located, this canal, when 
completed, would debouch in the river below Vicks- 
burg at a point so completely commanded from heights 
on the opposite bank as to make the passage through 
it impracticable. Further, the Vicksburg batteries readily 
threw shells along so much of its line as made work 
difficult, and drove out the dredging-machines. 

" Seeing this, as Grant did early in Februar}% it is 
altogether unaccountable that he consented to keep his 
men hard at work sixty days on so preposterous an 
undertaking. Nature, however, intervened at length. 
A flood pouring in, as might have been andcipated at 



384 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

that season, tore away the levees, spread over the coun- 
try far inward, submerged his encampment, drowned his 
animals, swept away his delving implements, and forced 
his troops to flee for their very lives. 

"A most dangerous tentative operation was the at- 
tempt to open Yazoo Pass, and by that way enter first 
the Cold Water, next the Tallahatchee, and thus by water 
'get upon the highland ' to the rear of Vicksburg above 
Haines' Bluff. This involved going back to a point six 
miles above Helena, and thence venture a voyage of 
several hundred miles upon transports through the 
mazes of the swamps and narrow streams just men- 
tioned, giving the Confederates the easy opportunity to 
take the expedition at great disadvantage and cut it to 
pieces in detail. Void of all possibility of success from 
the outset, in this extraordinary affair, four thousand 
five hundred men were employed in the beginning, em- 
barked on twenty transports convoyed by two ironclad 
gunboats and some lighter armored craft. There were 
delays and difficulties, even in finding proper light- 
draught transportation for this force of four thousand 
five hundred men, while it would have required two 
hundred similar transports for the Federal army by that 
route of approach to Vicksburg. Next a division was 
ordered to follow in support, and ultimately, McPherson, 
with his corps as well as a division of troops from 
Memphis, as fast as transportation could be secured. 

" Thus the Federal commander sought to throw little 
over a third of his army to the rear of \'icksburg, where, 
had It been actually able to go In the manner attempted, 
it must have been so dislocated from all possible timely 
support that It must have been overwhelmed, it the 
Confederates had at their disposition one-half of the 
forces they were credited wiih in the Federal dispatches 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 385 

at the time. As it was, the advance of this expedition, 
after some delay at Helena for lack of proper transpor- 
tation, surmounted a distance of two hundred and fifty 
miles, when it was brought to a halt by a Confederate 
fort, that easily beat off the Union ironclads. 

" Of course, had the Confederate resources at the dis- 
position of Pemberton, or, properly speaking, Johnston, 
been handled with ordinary vigor, not a man or a vessel 
would have been suffered to return to Helena from the 
labyrinth into which they had been thus adventured. 
Meanwhile, apprehensive of disaster, General Grant had 
detached Sherman with a single division, convoyed by 
another naval force under Admiral Porter, to make an 
effort to enter the Yazoo below the point reached by the 
other expedition, and thus 'save' or 'relieve it.' This, 
it was fancied, might be effected by ascending Steel's 
Bayou into Black's, and thence by way of Deer Creek, 
the Rolling Fork, and Sunflower. After great efforts on 
the part of Porter to execute his mission, he became en- 
tangled and well-nigh inextricably entrapped far short 
of his destination. The Confederates as easily as ef- 
fectually blocked his way with heavy fallen timber, and 
were swiftly closing, in the same manner, the bayous 
behind him, while the swamps and thickets around were 
swarming with sharpshooters and light ordnance, to which 
Porter could make no effective reply. Indeed, to so 
critical a strait was the expedition finally brought that 
its commander, for a time during his retreat, ' thought 
of blowing up his vessels and escaping with his men 
through the swamps to the Mississippi.' When so 
sorely imperiled, Porter called on Sherman for aid, 
which was given with timely energy and by a night 
march, just in time to save the Federal fleet from de- 
struction, either self-inflicted or by their enemies. Any 
Z 



386 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

one who will attentively read the contemporaneous 
official dispatches of both sides cannot fail to see that 
had an able soldier been in command of the Confed- 
erate forces on that theatre of war, one with a rational 
comprehension of the situation and of the Confederate 
defensive and offensive capacities, Sherman would 
neither have saved the admiral nor escaped with his own 
isolated division. 

" Preliminary to the movement of forces to Hard Times 
on the west bank of the river below V'icksburg, seven iron- 
clads led by the Benton under tlag of the admiral, and 
three transports with ten barges in tow, as gallantly as 
successfully ran the Confederate batteries, under their 
heavy fire, with the loss of but one of the transports, set 
on fire by the bursting of Confederate shells. Again, 
on the night of the 26th of April, six transports, towing 
barges heavily loaded with forage and subsistence, made 
the same venture, with the same success, and a^jain with 
the loss of but one of the transports. ' Thus General 
Grant's army had below \'icksburg, by the 27th of April, 
an abundance of stores as well as boats with which 
to cross the river.' Meanwhile, IMcClernand's and 
McPherson's corps had been moving southward, — about 
thirty thousand effectives. Both Sherman and Mc- 
Pherson, the two ablest lieutenants of the Union 
general, it seems, held well-grounded opinions adverse 
to this undertaking, which are to be found loyally 
expressed in a letter written by the former to General 
Grant's chief of staff, on the Sth of April. Grant, how- 
ever, proceeded to act upon his own plans in his own 
way. And after an unsuccessful, ill-managed na\al at- 
tack on Grand Gulf on the 29th of April, Bruinsburg 
was selected as the most favorable point for the descent 
of his army upon the State of Mississippi. 



COXFE DERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 387 

" Meanwhile, Sherman, while still at Milliken's Bend, 
about to follow the other two corps, had received an 
intimation, not an order, that he might usefully employ 
his corps for a while in a feint or diversion upon Haines' 
Bluff, the scene of his former mishap. This he pro- 
ceeded to do, though the real object of so ostentatious 
an operation was too apparent, as the military' reader 
will be apt to decide, to mislead or disturb an intelligent 
enemy in view of what had so recently happened there 
to demonstrate the ease with which Haines' Bluff could 
be held with a small force against thirty thousand men. 

'Tt seems that only one Federal division could be 
ferried at a time with the transportation disposable, while 
the distance to be thus traversed was six miles. Under 
such circumstances the operation was one of extreme 
hazard. The Union divisions were liable to be assailed 
and destroyed in detail before adequate support could 
possibly go to their assistance. This the navy could not 
really avert from the nature of the landing-ground. 
Twent}^-four hours w^ere occupied in the transfer of 
McClernand's corps, with one of IMcPherson's divisions. 
Moreover, the interior could only be reached after the 
descent by traversing some low swampy ground for half 
a mile, and thence through a defile which might easily 
have been defended. 

" That Pemberton was fully apprised of what was 
impending is apparent from his report and dispatches 
to General J. E. Johnston at Tullahoma, which clearly 
show his early knowledge of the presence of a large 
Federal force with ferriage facilities, first at New 
Carthage and subsequently at Hard Times, plainly 
with a view to offensive operations against Vicksburg. 
And as only one or two points of the river-bank in that 
quarter were accessible, there was little, if any, difficulty 



388 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in meeting an offensive movement almost at the first 
bound, and meeting it with a gready superior force, for 
Pemberton had about forty-five thousand men at his 
disposition at Vicksburg, Jackson, Grand Gulf, and Port 
Hudson, the major part of whom he could assemble with 
sufficient celerity to meet his adversaria's undisguised 
operations and overcome him in detail. So splendid an 
opportunity has rarely, if ever, been vouchsafed the 
weaker of two belligerents for the signal, irreparable 
defeat of the stronger, as was now given by Grant to 
Pemberton. General Johnston as far away as Tulla- 
homa, giving his immediate personal attention, as must 
be said, rather to the secondary than to the primar)- or 
most urgendy menaced part of his rather wide field of 
command, could but see the vital advantages that might 
accrue to the Confederates, and the very same day (29th 
April) he urged Pemberton, by telegraph, to concentrate 
and attack the Federal general immediately upon his 
landing. This, on the 2d of May. he repeated, as 
follows : ' If Grant crosses, unite all your troops to beat 
him. Success will ofive back what was abandoned.' 

" Twelve miles eastward of Bruinsburg is Port Gibson, 
to which place McClernand was ordered to hasten with 
his corps on the ist of May, ahead of support. Bowen, 
an able, energetic soldier, had. of course, evacuated 
Grand Gulf, and was found by McClernand's advance at 
2 r. M. directly across its path in a strong position, three 
or four miles westward of Port Gibson. Notwithstand- 
inof the time thus eivcn to the Confederates for concen- 
tration, Grant inexplicably made no positive attack until 
the next morning. The ground, seamed with deep 
ravines, choked with brush, fallen timber, and the rank 
vines of a Southern forest, was admirable for defense. 
Bowen made die best of these advantages widi his 



I 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. o89 

petty force, doubtless under the expectation that his 
superior would soon be at hand with the mass of his army. 
Small as was his force, the Confederate general held 
McClernand's corps of four di\isions at bay until after 
mid-day, Grant being on the field, commanding in person 
since lo o'clock a. m. Two of McPherson's brigades 
were pushed up, but one brigade of Confederates, after 
a march of twenty miles that day. also opportunely rein- 
forced Bowen, and enabled him to hold his adversary 
in check undl towards sunset, obstinately disputing, says 
Badeau, ' every inch of the field.' What six thousand 
Confederates at most did on that day, by virtue of the 
field of batde or their ability to withstand for ten hours a 
force more than three times as strong, is quite sufficient 
to demonstrate what fate must have befallen Grant on 
the 2d of ^Iay, 1863, had all readily available Confed- 
erate resources (at least thirty-five thousand men) been 
there, instead of the three brigades so well handled by 
Bowen. 

" Not earlier than the 2d of i>Iay did another division of 
McPherson's corps succeed in getting to the east bank 
of the Mississippi, and did not effect a junction with the 
other until the 3d. Left without the expected support, 
Bowen had now to fall back, but did so slowly, in perfect 
order, after blowing up his magazines, spiking his heavy 
guns, and availing himself of the great defensive facili- 
ties of the country to contest the ground with signal 
tenacity, as Badeau relates. Thus again was it shown 
what must have happened to the Federal army had Pem- 
berton been a soldier of ordinary capacity. As it was, 
Bowen was able to withdraw in safety across the Big 
Black on the afternoon of the 4th of May, and effect a 
junction with Pemberton. 

" Grant now determined to advance upon Jackson, in 



390 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

order to beat the force presumed to be there before It 
could effect a junction with Pemberton, or Pemberton 
could march thither. This was to niarcJi upon tJic smaller 
of tJie huo hostile forces, leaving the other, known to be 
at the time as strong as his own, free to spring upon his 
rear. In other words, while Grant had to march upon 
the hypothemise, Pemberton could reach Jackson to meet 
him by the base or shorter line of the triangle. Pember- 
ton. on hearing of such a movement, on the part of his 
adversary, having telegraphic communications, could call 
the force at Jackson to meet him as he marched out even 
from Vicksburg, and with his whole force take up a posi- 
tion upon the Federal flank, from which he might strike 
Grant when completely cut off from his base ; strike him 
when entangled in a difficult, unknown, hostile theatre 
of war, and, indeed, under every possible adverse cir- 
cumstance, with scarce a chance for escape from utter 
destruction. 

"Pemberton, however, it seems, fancying that Grant 
was really moving upon the railroad at or about Ed- 
ward's Station, in the direction of \'icksburg. made some 
preparation to fight him there. This idea was all the 
better for concentration, all the more dangerous for 
Grant, for it should have sdmulated Pemberton to draw 
thither every available man, including those at Jackson, 
and from that position he would have menaced Grant's 
flank, his rear, and his communications, had the Federal 
general marched beyond Raymond towards Jackson. 
Moreover, ample time was given the Confederates for 
concentration by the tardy manner in which die P^ederal 
corps were handled. Badeau characterizes Grant's 
movement upon Jackson, as masterly, though \^vy dan- 
gerous, for in taking that place he destroyed the Con- 
federate centre and isolated Vicksburg. On the con- 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 391 

trar)', I affirm that had his opponent been a clear-headed 
soldier, it must have turned out just such a seizure of 
the centre as that of an adventurous fly which had pene- 
trated to the centre of a spider's web ; the isolation of 
X'icksburg by that movement was simply the isolation 
of the spider, which sits quietly at the verge of his web, 
ready to pounce upon its victim so soon as it may be- 
come inextricably enmeshed. 

" Sherman having been brought across the river with 
two of his divisions on the 6th, advanced into the interior 
on the 8th of May. McPherson was thrown forward 
the next morning by the direct road to Raymond ; 
McClernand advanced by a widely-diverging line of 
march, nearly due north, towards Edward's Station, and 
Sherman by an intermediate way through Auburn. 
Dispositions more favorable than these for the purpose 
of the Confederates could not well be made, for 
McClernand was thus exposed to be assailed in flank 
and rear by an overwhelming force from Edward's Sta- 
tion before possible succor could reach him. On the 
1 2th of May McPherson encountered opposition in front 
of Raymond. A small brigade of Confederates stopped 
his march there for four or five hours, inflicted some loss, 
and again demonstrated what must have come to pass 
had Pe'mberton a litde less incompetent than he proved 
to be, been at hand with his available force. Although 
a single brigade was pitted against two divisions. Grant 
termed the affair at the time 'a severe fight.' The 
greatest mismanagement of ample resources on the 
part of Pemberton alone gave impunity and success to 
all these operations of the Federal general, as must 
surely be now apparent. Now there was another change 
in the order of movement. McPherson, early the next 
day, was thrown forward to Clinton, ten miles west of 



392 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Jackson ; Sherman moved by the direct road to Jackson, 
and McClernand was drawn down from the vicinity of 
Edward's Ferry to Raymond. 

•' Meanwhile, General Johnston, who had hitherto, or 
since the 22d of January, regarded himself as prevented 
from giving his personal attention to military affairs in 
IMississippi, was peremptorily ordered by the Confeder- 
ate War Department to ' proceed at once to Mississippi 
and take chief command of the forces there,' giving to 
those in the field, as far as practicable, the encourage- 
ment and benefit 'of his personal direction'; and 
he was to carry from Bragg's army three thousand 
good troops. Though ' unfit for field services,' as he 
alleofes, leavlncr Tullahoma on the loth of i\Iav, he 
reached Jackson on the 13th. His first dispatch from 
that point is significant as well as characteristic, and read 
between the lines must give the military^ student the key 
to much of the otherwise bewildering history of the 
Confederate defense of the Mississippi Valley after the 
24th of November, 1862, when General Johnston was 
placed in chief command of the several armies of Gen- 
erals Bragg, Pemberton, and Kirby Smith. From Jack- 
son he telegraphed the Confederate War office : 

" ' I arrived this evening, findinof the enemv in force 
between this place and General Pemberton, cutting off 
the communication. I am too late.' 

"We have seen that Pemberton did nothing which 
was expected of him. and so suffered Grant to scatter 
four divisions around Jackson in an incoherent way. 
Neither Grant's audacity nor skill in movements had 
aught, manifestly, to do with Pemberton's course, which 
arose simply from the fact that that officer actually tlid 
not know what to do with an army in the face of an 
enem)'. I have suggested that the possible cause ot 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 393 

Grant's campaign might be traced to an indisposition by 
co-operation to fall under the command of his senior, 
Banks. Oddly enough, Pemberton would seem to have 
been equally opposed to doing anything which must 
throw him directly under his superior, Johnston. Grant, 
therefore, was able to force Johnston from Jackson ; but 
Johnston withdrew towards the north, as he subsequently 
explained, so as to maintain communication and the 
means of effecting a junction with his own perplexed 
lieutenant. 

"Leaving Sherman to complete some havoc-work atand 
around Jackson, the Federal general-in-chicf now turned 
McClernand and McPherson, with about thirty thousand 
men, towards Vicksburg. Meanwhile, Pemberton having 
done all the mischief to his side possible by his inertness, by 
remaining at Vicksburg or at Edward's Station, when he 
should have been operating on Grant's rear, now, on the 
15th of May, with characteristic felicity in doing the 
wrong thing, set his troops in motion southward, as if to 
get out of Grant's way, under the pretence of striking 
his enemy's communications. That he did this to avoid 
collision with Grant is not our belief; it was only in 
keeping with his other operations, throughout so sin- 
gularly wrong-headed and favoring for his enemy, 
Johnston's positive order to turn and seek to effect a 
junction with him, however, overtook him on the same 
day. 

"Yieldinof transient obedience, Pemberton made a 
wide detour northward. But this brought him, on the 
1 6th of May, on the direct path of Grant, with the result 
of the battle of Champion's Hill, or Baker's Creek. 
There the position taken by the Confederate general, it 
is almost needless to say, was ill chosen. Immediately at 
his back was Baker's Creek, swollen and impassable except 



394 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

by one ford and a bridofe, three miles asunder. The Con- 
federates numbered about twenty-three thousand men in 
three divisions, and the Federal army was not quite 
thirty thousand strong. With the least foresight Pem- 
berton might have been equal in strength to his resolute 
opponent. His tactical movements in the battle were 
no better than the strategical operations which preceded 
it. For he stood inactive, confronting for five hours a 
single Federal division, before Genera) Grant had 
brought up the rest of his forces and made the attack. 

" However, there were some hours of stout ficjhtinor 
made by the Confederate divisional and brigade com- 
manders, and it is noteworthy that one of the Union divis- 
ions engaged lost one-third of its men. The battle lasted 
from about 11.30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and more than once in 
parts of the field the Federals were in " dire need 
of assistance." But by 4 p.m. the day had gone 
definitively against Pemberton, who then began to re- 
treat, covered by Loring's division on one tlank, while 
Tilghman. who had fought so brilliantly at Fort Henr)-, 
brought up the rear on the Raymond road, until he was 
slain fiofhtinir as the orallant, intelliijent soldier he was. 
Despite the unfavorable nature of the ground, the nar- 
row ford and bridge by which the retreat had to be 
made, it was successfully effected, but the battle had cost 
many men and much of Pemberton's artiller}'. 

" Loring, after having covered the retreat of Stevenson 
and Bowen. found it the choice of evils forced upon him to 
attempt to retreat from the field southward with his 
division rather than venture the passage of Baker's 
Creek when so closely pressed by the enemy, and this 
feat was successfully executed in the most soldierly 
manner, nevertheless, under circumstances that make it 
another one of the singularities of the campaign, that he 



[ 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 395 

was allowed thus to march from the field, and in a few 
days effect a junction with Johnston, with seven or eight 
thousand men saved from the wreck of that day's disaster. 

"Passingover the unimportant incidents of the two days 
immediately subsequent to the battle of Baker's Creek, 
it is to be related that the Confederate commander, after 
a feeble effort to avail himself of the defensive resources 
in the quarter of the Big Black, fell back within his lines 
at Vicksburg on the i8th of May, leaving some eight or 
ten field-guns in the hands of his persistent assailant. 
The day before this, General Johnston had thus properly 
depicted the situation : ' If Haines' Bluff is untenable, 
Vicksburg is of no value and cannot be held ; if, there- 
fore, you are invested in Vicksburg you must ultimately 
surrender. Under such circumstances, instead of losing 
both troops and place, we must, if possible, save the 
troops. If not too late, evacuate Vicksburg and its 
dependencies and march to the northeast.' 

" Upon the receipt of these orders, Pemberton assem- 
bled a council of war before which he placed them, and 
invited a free expression of the opinions of his subor- 
dinate generals as to the practicability of carrying them 
out. In the opinion of that council, as Pemberton 
wrote to Johnston, on the i8th of May, 'unanimously 
expressed, it was impossible to withdraw the army from 
this position with such 7norale and material as to be of 
further use to the Confederacy. While the council of 
war was assembled the guns of the enemy opened on 
the works. ... I have decided to hold Vicksburof as 
long -as possible, with the firm hope that the govern- 
ment may yet be able to assist me in keeping this ob- 
struction to the enemy's free navigation of the 
Mississippi River. I still conceive it to be the most 
important point in the Confederacy.' 



390 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" So far from being at that moment ' the most import- 
ant point in the Confederacy,' practically Vicksburg had 
lost all importance and militar)- advantage to the Con- 
federate States, and by its further occupation the navi- 
gadon of the river was not to be materially obstructed. 
As for not being able to withdraw from the position 
without so thorough a demoralization of the garrison, 
absolutely there was no rational ground for such a con- 
clusion to stand upon. The Federal army at the time, 
and for several weeks thereafter, was not large enough 
to enable it to invest the whole Confederate position 
from Haines' Bluff, on the north, around to the river's 
bank south of Mcksburg. Therefore, for some days 
there was left open in the latter quarter an ample gate- 
way through which an energetic soldier might have 
marched the greater part of an army, that afterwards 
showed itself so doughty and so worth saving, whenso- 
ever suffered to do so by its commander. 

"It is true that the route of exit suggested by Gen- 
eral Johnston, that is, towards the north-east, was closed, 
as he might have anticipated, but not so towards the 
south-east ; and if by that way at least twenty-five thou- 
sand of the Confederate army were not successfully res- 
cued from General Grant's clutches, it was not only be- 
cause of General Pemberton's amazing incapacity for 
military command, but also for the reason that General 
Johnston, in view of that already clearly demonstrated 
incapacity and disregard of all sound military suggesdons, 
failed in so pressing an exigency to take command in 
person of so vital a part of the Confederate resources in 
that quarter, and saw fit to leave them in hands shown 
to be fatally clumsy at every critical moment of the 
campaign. 

" Sherman's corps, of which only Blair's division had 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG. 307 

shared in the action of Baker's Creek, having- overtaken 
the main force, was thrown to the front as the Federal 
army approached its long-sought prey. And to a cavalry 
detachment of that corps was deputed the task of enter- 
ing the deserted Confederate works at Haines' Bluff by 
the rear. The works that had so easily repelled thirty odd 
thousand men under Sherman, five months previously, 
were now found abandoned, the guns partially disabled, 
with magazines full of ammunition and a hospital full of 
wounded and sick men. At the same time, the main 
body of that corps was pushed forward upon Vicksburg, 
General Grant riding, as we are told, with Sherman at 
the head of the column. 

" It was late in the afternoon of the 19th of May before 
the Union army began to gather close around Vicks- 
burg, where Pemberton had, as we have seen, resolved 
upon being beleaguered. Built upon hills successively 
rising from the river, the position was indeed a strong 
one, though the lines were too greatly extended and 
in parts of somewhat inferior construction. A series of 
open-gorge detached works were established upon all 
the salient commanding points. These were connected 
bylines of rifle-pits, while the ridge-slopes landward were 
obstructed by fallen timber. A numerous artillery- 
garnished the lines, and the garrison numbered far 
above thirty thousand infantry and artiller}'. 

" Success seems to have confirmed the Federal general 
in his disposition throughout the campaign to tempt 
fortune without hesitation, hence, without waiting for his 
whole force to reach the scene, Grant, at 2 p.m. on the 
19th of May, gave orders for an immediate assault of 
the Confederate position. What happened may be best 
stated in the words of Badeau : ' Without any fault or 
hesitation on the part of either troops or commanders. 



398 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

night had overtaken the National forces before they 
were really in condition to obey the orders of Grant, 
except at the point where Sherman had reached the 
works but failed to make any serious impression, , . . 
The Fifteenth Corps was the only one able to act 
vigorously ; the other two having succeeded no further 
than to gain advanced positions covered from the fire 
of the enemy.' 

" Not satisfied with the results of this bloody fiasco, 
General Grant determined upon another swing of the 
human hammer at his disposition, against the entrenched 
Confederates, now that his whole force was up agd well 
in hand. This plan, as well as the manner of it, was 
settled at a convocation of his corps commanders on 
the 20th of May, and ordered to take place on the 2 2d, 
with the intermediate time for preparation ; but their 
opponent also had had seventy hours to set his house 
in order. The orders were to scale the Confederate 
lines at a concerted moment, and without firing a gun 
until the works were stormed. 

" No one, I dare say. acquainted with the dread trade 
of war, who will carefully read either Badeau's or Sher- 
man's account of this bloody operation, will say that the 
dispositions of the Union army for the fearful and un- 
precedented work set for it. were such as made success 
likely. The three Union corps were spread out in a 
long, thin, brittle line, which was simultaneously pushed 
forward against the Confederate works in the feeblest 
possible order of attack. That is to say. small as were 
the chances originally for success, they were thrown 
away by the manner in which the attack was made. 
The Federals, gallandy led by subordinates, as might 
be e.xpected, were speedily involved and terribly 
slaughtered in the numerous shambles made by 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF VICKSBURG, 399 

the converging fires from many parts of the Confed- 
erate Hnes. 

" However, upon the suggestion of McCIernand that 
certain advantages which he reported he had gained in 
his quarter of the assault might be ripened into victory, 
— advantages, however, which, we are told. Grant really 
discredited at the moment, another assault was ordered 
and adventured with all three corps at 3 p.m. ' It was 
a repetition of the first, equally unsuccessful and bloody,' 
is the brief chronicle given by Sherman, who omits, 
however, to state that the ' butcher's bill ' of the day's 
work footed up more than three thousand killed and 
wounded, or ten per cent, of the Federal forces 
engaged. 

" From a high and commanding point, we are told, that 
General Grant had been a spectator of the operations in 
question, and had seen a few men (McClernand's) enter 
the works, and the colors planted on the exterior slopes, 
but had also seen the whole column repelled. It is 
otherwise admitted that the Federal commander's posi- 
tion during the first attempt to storm the works had 
given him a better opportunity of seeing what was 
really taking place in front of and being effected by 
McClernand's corps than its commander had. That 
under such circumstances and with such knowledge of 
the really adverse state of affairs in that quarter the 
second assault was attempted, be it noted, as late as 
3 p.^r., at the suggestion, however urgent, of a subor- 
dinate whose military capacity had been so long dis- 
credited, is another of the unaccountable incidents of 
this remarkable campaign. 

"Thus, by the 22d of June, the besieging army had 
pushed their approaches — as Pemberton reported to 
Johnston — within twenty-five feet of the Confederate 



400 LIFE OF GEXERAL GRAXT. 

' redan,' and were also up very close to the works upon 
the Baldwin ferry and Jackson roads, but apparently 
the Federal commander had been sated with assaults 
by the one adventured with such cost a month before. 
Pemberton's men had now been in the trenches thirty- 
four days and nights, and were living- on ver)' * reduced 
rations.' So o-reat was the extent of the beleao^uered 
lines (about seven miles all this time) that their com- 
mander had not been able to relieve any part of his 
men from trench service for an hour at a time. 
Nevertheless, worn out by ceaseless vigils, attenu- 
ated from insufficient, bad food, unsheltered from 
the weather, and from a rarely interrupted storm of shot 
and shell at short range, from two hundred and twenty 
guns, beside a battery of heavy guns belonging and 
owned by the Navy, these thirty thousand Americans, for 
thirteen da^y's and nights longer, stood unlllnchlngly 
ready to meet the constantly menaced onset. 

" Meantime, their adversary had been steadily plying 
axe and shovel and pick, while aided by large gangs of 
neo-roes. pressing forward numerous saps, until, by the 
istof July, In many places they had reached the Confed- 
erate ditch, and ' at ten different points General Grant 
states that he coiild move under cover, to within distances 
of from Jive to one hundred yards of the Confederates, 
and the men of the two armies conversed across the 
lines.' 

"The moment for hand-to-hand fighting had about 
come. There was little if any further scope for digging. 
Nevertheless, though forty days previously Grant had 
reported that he would take the place ' by regular ap- 
proaches in about a week,' he still took six days longer 
— as Badeau tells us — to prepare for the final assault. 
But Pcmberton at last had comprehended the hopeless- 



CONFEDERATE STORY OF ITCKSBURG. 401 

ness of his situation, and that but two courses were open 
to him, — capitulation, or a resolute sortie with every 
man able to bear a musket. This very evident position 
of affairs was now discussed with his division command- 
ers, and a sortie was at once pronounced to be an im- 
practicable enterprise in the condition of the garrison 
after forty-seven days of such work : capitulation was 
therefore determined upon as without alternative. 

" But on the morning of the 3d of July, Pemberton 
hoisted the white flag and asked for a commission to 
arrange the terms for his surrender. General Grant 
refused this, but after a parley offered terms that were 
not approved, as he states, by all his general officers, 
though he omits to tell in what particular. As a whole, 
those terms were as favorable as the Confederates had a 
right to expect of their adversary. Bowen, however, sug- 
gested that they should be allowed to ' march out with 
the honors of war. carrying their small arms and artil- 
lery ' — a proposition which ' was promptly and uncere- 
moniously rejected.' General Beauregard had, indeed, 
conceded such terms to Major Anderson at Fort Sum- 
ter, in April, 1861, and allowed him to salute the United 
States flag before hauling it down. But it was, of course, 
asking too much that an army of 30,000 veterans, such as 
Pemberton's, should be sent forth intact with their arms 
and field artillery. Pemberton likewise besought a stipu- 
lation that ' the rights and property of citizens be re- 
spected,' and asked for certain immaterial ceremonies at 
the formal act of surrender on the part of the troops. 
Regarding citizens, Grant declined to make stipulations, 
while disclaiming any purpose to subject them ' to annoy- 
ances or loss.' He acceded, however, to Pemberton's 
desire that the Confederate garrison should be formally 
marched at 10 a.m., on the 4th of July, to the front of the 

2A 



402 LIFE OF GEXERAL GRANT. 

lines which they occupied, and there stack arms and 
deposit their colors, which done, they were then to be 
marched back into Vicksburg, and remain prisoners until 
properly paroled. Pemberton having- duly accepted these 
final terms, hostilities came to an end. At the time and 
in the manner stipulated, the surrender was completed, 
embracing the paroling of twenty-eight thousand eight 
hundred and ninety-two officers and men, of whom 
fifteen were general officers. One hundred and seventy- 
two cannons were among the physical spoils, as well as 
sixty thousand stands of arms, mainly of good quality 
(much better. General Grant declares, than were the 
bulk of his own arms), together with considerable ammu- 
nition and ordnance stores. Thus ended in a great, far- 
reaching success, rarely exceeded, or indeed, equaled in 
war, a long series of operations, ever)^ one of which, as 
I have shown, was but ' a wild cast of the net for for- 
tune ' absolutely without a parallel in military histor)\ 
The brilliant end, however, has invested this campaign 
with a splendor that justly belongs only to the most 
masterly military operations, and, therefore, cannot be 
lasting or survive that critical test to which prominent 
human affairs are sure to be subjected in the course of 
time." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 

" The river unvexed to the sea " — Great rejoicing over Vicksburg's fall — Restored 
to popular confidence — Success the test — Sherman pursues Johnston — Siege of 
Jackson — Johnston's hasty evacuation — A march of terrible suffering — Railroads 
and buildings destroyed — Feeding famished inhabitants — Supplies for Confed- 
erate wounded — Sherman in command at Vicksburg — Grant visits New Orleans 
— Is seriously injured — The army scattered — Succoring Rosecrans — Ordered to 
Cairo — Military division of the Mississippi. 

GEm'SBURG and Vicksburg- were twin sun-bursts that 
flaslied through the thick clouds of national distress and 
depression. With happy appropriateness, they came 
upon the day of days to the republic. At last upon 
the pedestal of much patient waiting had been reared 
the statue of victory. The battle had forced into retreat 
the darinqr feet that were invadinor Northern soil. The 
capitulation g-ave the broad waters of the Mississippi 
back to the country. True it is that Gettysburg did not 
complete the destruction of the Confederate army which 
had carried fire and sword and the sound of conflict into 
a Federal State, but it crushed its power. The threat in 
gray was no longer a threat, and there was much relief 
when the adventurous host recrossed the Potomac. And 
when Vicksburg fell the j'oy of the country was complete. 
Here at last were substantial fruits. 

At first the magnitude of the prize could scarcely be 
comprehended. Grant's operations had been watched 
with apprehension. The weary months of advance and 
countermarch, of unceasing grapple with natural obstacles 
whose difficulties the public could not adequately appre- 

(403) 



404 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ciate, led to the fear that he, too, had lost the secret of 
success. Even after the brilliant battles around Vicks- 
burg, and his army had drawn its unyielding lines around 
the city, the papers each morning of the forty days of 
siege were opened with sickening dread lest some mis- 
adventure had befallen him. 

The city fell, and the rejoicing was equal to the occa- 
sion. A hostile army of sixty thousand men had been 
killed, wounded or made prisoners; two hundred and 
forty-six cannon were captured. Port Hudson, which 
surrendered a week afterward, was the last point on the 
great river which the Confederacy ruled, and thenceforth, 
in President Lincoln's apt phrase, "the Mississippi went 
unvexed to the sea." Public confidence, which had waned 
during the seemingly fruitless months of advance, re- 
turned to the man who had accomplished these great 
results. 

President Lincoln had been very apprehensive of the 
result of the campaign about \'icksburg. Thoroughly 
alive to the importance of the control of the great river 
to the national cause, he had been strongly of the 
opinion that the greatest of the Confederate strongholds 
would never be reduced until the river thence to New 
Orleans had been thoroughly cleared of hostile fortifica- 
tions and troops. This accomplished, the resources of 
the country in men and facilities could be directed 
against the chief citadel, and its reduction speedily 
brought about. Exaggerating the hazards of Grant's 
bold campaigning, he never gained complete confidence 
in its ultimate result until the despatch came which pro- 
claimed the victory. Then his manly, generous nature 
displayed itself Hastening to do justice to the man 
whom he had almost come to doubt, he sent him the 
following letter, under date of July 13th, 1863. 



VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 405 

" I do not remember that you and I ever met person- 
ally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment 
for the almost inestimable service you have done the 
country. I wish to say a word further. When you first 
reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should 
do what you finally did — march the troops across the 
neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go 
below ; and I never had any faith, except a general hope 
that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass ex- 
pedition, and the like, would succeed. When you got 
below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity, I 
thought you should go down the river and join General 
Banks; and when you turned northward, east of the 
Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to 
make a personal acknowledgment that you were right 
and I was wronof." 

Halleck, after grumbling a little and objecting to the 
terms which Grant had given Pemberton, finally swung 
gracefully around into the tide of general congratulation, 
and telegraphed the following message: "Your report, 
dated July 6th, of your campaign in Mississippi ending 
in the capitulation of Vicksburg, was received last eve- 
ning. Your narration of the campaign, like the opera- 
tions themselves, is brief, soldierly, and in every respect 
creditable and satisfactory. In boldness of plan, rapidity 
of execution and brilliancy of routes, these operations 
will compare most favorably with those of Napoleon at 
Ulm. You and your army have well deserved the grat- 
itude of your country, and it will be the boast of your 
children that their fathers were of the heroic army which 
reopened the Mississippi river." 

It is difficult to appreciate the full measure of rejoicing 
which was felt at the North over this victory. It came 
like a voice from heaven. There had been so much ap- 



406 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

parently hopeless effort, so many weary and monotonous 
days of waiting, so much sacrifice of treasure and blood 
upon the altar of what appeared to be futile endeavor, 
that the final fulfilment came like a largess of fortune. 
The North took fresh heart. Depression gave way to 
elation. The sinking pulses of patriotism ran high 
again, and the old confidence in success was renewed. 
The grade of Major-General in the regular army was 
conferred upon Grant. \'otes of thanks rained in upon 
him from all parts of the Union. Rich and cosdy gifts, 
the expressions of the popular heart, were sent to the 
victorious general. Everywhere the friends of national 
unity were filled with enthusiam, while the South was 
correspondingly depressed. 

The time had now come when Grant's voice was 
potent to advance the fortunes of those to whose co- 
operation he owed a part of his wonderful triumphs. 
Chief among these he ranked Sherman and McPherson. 
Sherman, alert in duty and discipline, had hardly waited 
to witness or join in the celebration of the victory. The 
orders of General Grant to pursue Johnston had been 
immediately obeyed, and on the 5th he was on his mis- 
sion to drive the Confederates out of the State — a task 
which he accomplished by forcing Johnston's retreat 
from Jackson and the destruction of a vast amount of 
property and railroad communications. He was back 
in Vicksburg by the 25th. Under date of July 22d Grant 
addressed a characteristic letter to the President recom- 
mending the promotion of Sherman and McPherson to 
the positions of brigadier-general in the regular army. 
Throughout the war the organizations of the regular 
and volunteer armies were kept distinct, and promotion 
in the former was very highly prized by professional 
soldiers. The reasons he gave for these promotions 



VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 407 

were, "Their great fitness for any command that it may 
ever become necessary to intrust to them. Their great 
purity of character and disinterestedness in the faithful 
performance of their duty, and the success of every one 
engaged in the great batde for the preservadon of the 
Union. They have honorably won this distinction upon 
many well-fought batde-fields." After reciting the long 
list of their distinguished services, the letter concluded : 
"The promotion of such men as Sherman and McPher- 
son always adds strength to our arms." 

Those officers received the promotion, and Grant's 
recommendation of other officers for advancement in 
the re^Tular and volunteer armies also received the Presi- 
dent's sanction. His army from the first had never 
wavered in its confidence in him. It had cheerfully 
borne the weary marches, desperate fighting, harassing 
duties in the swamps — every sacrifice exacted. He had 
fashioned an army that did not think it could be de- 
feated. The drill had been learned on the march, and 
its confidence was gained in the shock of battle. It was 
a weapon the temper and quality of which he knew, for 
it was his handiwork. 

New duties, requiring the highest gifts of military 
administration, were now exacted of the great captain. 
Four States were either wholly or in' part restored to 
national control, and it was his task to hasten their com- 
plete pacification. One of the most important questions 
presented to him for solution related to the ex-slaves. 
From the beginning of the struggle the negroes who 
flocked to the protection of the Union armies had been 
used as teamsters, laborers, or in whatever capacity 
their services were of value. 

In September, 1862, President Lincoln issued the grand 
proclamation which declared the slaves in all States in 



408 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

insurrection after January ist, 1863, "thenceforward, for- 
ever free." 

Turning the freedmen into soldiers was a step which 
followed in immediate sequence. It was seriously op- 
posed by many adherents of the national cause, who 
could scarcely be reconciled to it, even as a measure of 
war. In the army many men, who were none the less 
citizens because they carried arms, discussed the measure 
almost with violence. They had taken up their mus- 
kets to defend the Union, not to free the slaves. Grant, 
however, had come slowly to the opinion that valuable 
material for w^ar might be drilled out of those of them 
who were willing to fight for their freedom. Months 
before he had sanctioned the experiment of organizing 
a heavy artillery regiment which, well officered, could 
be made useful in garrisoning important points, thus 
relieving white troops for active duty in the field. 
General Lorenzo Thomas, adjutant-general of the army, 
early in August had been sent to the Mississippi valley 
to raise colored troops, and enjoyed the active co-opera- 
tion of General Grant. The most annoying opposition 
to this step came from the Confederates, who declared 
their determination to treat negroes found with arms in 
their hands as beyond the pale of civilized warfare. 
Their officers would be regarded as slave-stealers and 
they themselves would be held as runaway slaves to be 
killed at sight or reduced to slavery again. But this 
policy was met by one equally severe. When Grant 
learned that a white captain of negro troops and 
several of his men taken prisoners at Milliken's Bend 
had been hung, he took stern measures to protect all 
whom he commanded. To General Richard Taylor, 
commanding the Confederates in Louisiana, he wrote : 

" I feel no inclination to retaliate for the offences of 



VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 409 

irresponsible persons, but if it is the policy of any gen- 
eral intrusted with the command of troops to show no 
quarter, or to punish with death prisoners taken in bat- 
tle, I will accept the issue. It may be you propose a 
different line of policy toward black troops and officers 
commanding them to that practised toward white troops. 
If so, I can assure you that these colored troops are 
regularly mustered into the service of the United States. 
The government, and all the officers under the govern- 
ment, are bound to give the same protection to these 
troops that they do to any other troops." 

General Taylor replied that he would punish all such 
acts, " disgraceful alike to humanity and the reputation 
of soldiers." He, however, declared that Confederate 
officers were required to turn over to the State authori- 
ties all slaves captured in arms. Although, on several 
occasions, bushwhackers and partisan bodies of the 
Confederates showed no quarter to negro troops falling 
into their hands, in the main black soldiers received the 
same treatment as their white comrades in arms, by 
reason of the energetic and decisive position which 
Grant had taken upon the question when it was first 
sprung. 

In and about an army in the field there are many 
things amusing as well as tragic happening all the time. 
It was a standing jok'~ about Grant's head-quarters that 
he had less to eat, less to wear, and less money than the 
humblest officer about him. During all the campaign 
he had not allowed cows to be taken from the inhabi- 
tants, and when one was driven off an appeal to him 
would secure its return. But, by some chance, when a 
good one reached the commissary or quartermaster's 
department it would change color and could not be re- 
cognized, therefore the men always had milk. Vicks- 



410 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

burg had fallen and General Grant's family came down 
to visit him. The young children needed milk and the 
General tried every means to procure it for them, but 
failed. As a last resort he wrote the note here pro- 
duced in fac-simile. It is needless to add that the chil- 
dren were provided for. Colonel Markland was one 
of the leaders in the mischief of the camp as well as 
one of Grant's best friends, hence the note was sent to 
him. 

The opening of the Mississippi brought vexing 
questions relating to trade with the subjugated territory. 
Encouraged by the authorities at Washington a horde 
of adventurers followed the army, expecting great profit 
from trading in cotton and other produce. While the 
army had hostile forces in its front, the control of the 
traders was clearly within the functions of the com- 
mander. Thanks to Grant the greater portion of the 
States adjacent to the Mississippi river were now free 
from active hostilities, and the cotton speculators did their 
best to turn the Federal armies into mere guards to 
make their trading operations safe. Secretary Salmon 
P. Chase, who entertained the opinion that the danger 
of the recognition of the Confederate States by Euro- 
pean powers would be lessened if plenty of cotton was 
sent abroad, lent his influence to the speculators. Gen- 
eral Grant, however, stoudy maintained his view that if 
the trade should be permitted these cormorants of com- 
merce would abuse their opportunities and supply the 
hostile people and armies with articles contrabarnl of 
war, to the advantage of the enemy and the prolongation 
of the strife. With such an army of non-combatants spies 
could easily introduce themselves within the Federal lines 
and obtain information of value to the Confederates. 
Moreover, such trading was likely to prove demoralizing 



'"^^ eyi^'-t^^ K ^-^«^»^ 




^ -/^ 



t,/-^^^^^/ *^1- 



ViCKSBURG, Miss., Sept. 2^th, 1863. 
Col. Markland — Dear Sir: — Having exhausted every other re- 
source for procuring a cow, I now send to you to get one of those at 
the Quartermaster's and Commissary's quarters. 
Yours truly, 

U. S. Grant, i}raj.-Gen. 
(411) 



412 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

to the army, whose officers would be exposed to the cor- 
rupt soHcitations of men who would gladly pay heavily 
for contraband facilities. At his urgent instance severe 
restrictions were thrown around the traffic which, how- 
ever, subsequendy grew to such formidable and demor- 
alizing proportions as he had endeavored to provide 
ao-ainst. This happened after he had been transferred 
to service in the eastern army. 

Upon this point of inter-trading Assistant Secretary 
of War Dana fully coincided with Grant. He had in- 
vestigated the subject of cotton-trading carefully, and 
declared it to be a nuisance. But when he appealed to 
the commander, Grant regretfully said that he was sorry 
that he did not possess the authority to stop it. When 
occasion offered, however, he never lost an opportunity 
to object to it, and he threw all the obstacles he could in 
the way of those engaged in it. Yet his sublime sense 
of subordination is shown in a clear light by the con- 
cluding sentence of a letter to the government in which 
he makes objection to this contraband traffic : " No 
theory of my own will ever stand in the way of my ex- 
ecuting in good faith any order I may receive from 
those in authority over me." 

Sherman's forces for enterprise against Johnston con- 
sisted of forty thousand men. Moving eastward by the 
same route he had travelled from Jackson six weeks 
before, Sherman placed his army, almost without a 
skirmish, aoain before the defences of that citv. These 
had been strengthened, and behind them Johnston lay 
with four divisions of infantry and a heavy force of cavalry 
and artillery. On July 9th the Union army sat down 
before this stronghold. Its forces were now sufficiendy 
numerous to extend the investing line to the Pearl river, 
both above and below the city. While regular approaches 



VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 413 

were being made Sherman sent out considerable detach- 
ments to destroy the Mississippi Central Railroad on both 
sides of the town. Sparing his men the unnecessary blood- 
shed of an assault the siecje was without clash of arms 
until the 13th, when Johnston made a sortie with some 
determination, which, however, was easily repulsed. 
Skirmishing continued thenceforward to the i6th, on 
which night the Confederate army evacuated the city, 
retreating hastily eastward. They burned all the bridges 
in retiring and placed torpedoes and loaded shells in the 
way of their pursuers. Their flight took them across a 
stretch of ninety miles of country almost destitute of 
water, and under the burning July sun. The sufferings of 
his men were frightful. 

On July 18th Sherman again entered the capital of 
Mississippi, which was to experience more than its share 
of the horrors of war. Great blocks of its handsome 
residences were burned, while the destruction of the rail- 
way was complete. The remaining inhabitants were in 
a condition of most pitiable want. Their defenders had 
left such of them as had not followed the retreating 
army in absolute destitution of food. Two days were 
spent in relieving their wants. In his hasty movements 
toward Vicksburg two months before he had been com- 
pelled to leave his sick and wounded in Jackson. These, 
together with increased numbers of the Confederate 
disabled, were supplied with medicines and hospital deli- 
cacies heretofore denied them. Leaving^ rations for the 
distressed people and ample supplies for the hospitals, 
Sherman again turned his columns toward Vicksburg, 
where he arrived on July 25th, having scattered the only 
considerable Confederate army in that region. His loss 
in the brief campaign was less than a thousand, while he 
captured more than that number of prisoners. 



414 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

That portion of the army which had not accompanied 
Sherman had now enjoyed nearly three weeks of hard- 
earned rest. Grant was aofain hecominor anxious for a 
forward movement and sucrsfested Mobile as the next 
objective. Its capture, he thought, would complete the 
disruption of the eastern and western portions of the 
Confederacy and would prove a deadly blow. Halleck, 
however, found "reasons, which I cannot now explain," 
for moving in a different direction. The controlling 
motive seems to have been the efforts of the Emperor 
of the French to establish Maximilian's monarchy in 
Mexico. To counteract this it was deemed desirable to 
re-establish national authority in Texas, so as to leave a 
heavy force on the Mexican frontier. Banks was ap- 
pointed to command the army to operate against Texas, 
and a division of four thousand troops was sent to him 
by Grant. Schofield and five thousand others were 
sent to operate against Price in Western Arkansas, and 
Burnside with the Ninth corps was despatched to rein- 
force Rosecrans in Middle Tennessee. The movement 
of Banks was further reinforced by Ord's entire corps, 
sent on August 7th, and orders were sent to Grant to 
co-operate. 

With the view of consulting with Banks before his 
start. Grant started for New Orleans on August 30th, 
leavinof Sherman in command at Mcksburo^. At a re- 
view of the troops on September 4th Grant was thrown 
from his horse and so severely injured that for twenty 
days he was perfectly helpless and confined to one posi- 
tion. Indeed, he did not recover so as to walk without 
crutches or mount his horse without assistance until 
after the battles around Chattanooga. Anxious for the 
well-being of his department. Grant, carried on a 
stretcher, had returned to Vicksburij, where he found 



VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 415 

orders from Halleck directing him to send all the men 
he could possibly spare to the assistance of Rosecrans. 
One of the chief obstacles to speedy obedience was 
want of transports. Still, four days afterward, Sherman 
and three divisions were on their way to Nashville. 

At this time Grant wrote to Halleck, " I am just out 
of bed and find that I can write only with great diffi- 
culty. During the twenty days that I have been con- 
fined to one position on my back, I have apparently 
been in the most perfect health, but now that I am 
up on crutches, I find myself very weak." He was 
anxious lest the movement of Sherman's troops should 
lead the enemy to movements tending to obstruct its 
junction with Rosecranz. To prevent this McPherson 
was ordered to make a demonstration against Jackson 
and Canton, and to threaten other points further east. 
Sherman's route was to be overland from Memphis to 
Corinth, Tuscumbia and Decatur. He took up his line 
of march from Memphis on October 4th, and, thanks to 
McPherson's timely demonstrations, was not seriously 
harassed. 

At this time there was much uncertainty in the trans- 
mission of reports and communications to and from 
Washington. Several orders had been delayed and 
movements of grave importance had been seriously 
impeded. It was with a view to correct this that Grant 
sent Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, of his staff, to Cairo to 
communicate direct with the government. Colonel 
Wilson, on arriving, found this order, which he at once 
transmitted : " It is the wish of the Secretary of War 
that, as soon as General Grant is able to take the field, 
he will come to Cairo and report by telegraph." This 
reached him on October loth, and on that day he left 
with his staff and head-quarters en route for Cairo. On 



416 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

October i6th he wired from Cairo : " I have just arrived, 
and report in pursuance of your instructions of the 3d 
instant. My staff and head-quarters are with me." The 
next day Halleck repHed: "You will immediately pro- 
ceed to the Gait House, Louisville, Kentucky, where you 
will meet an officer of the War Department, with your 
orders and instructions. You will take with you your 
staff, etc., for immediate operations in the field." 

While on his way to Louisville, he was met at Indian- 
apolis by the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, 
who brought an order creating the Military Division of 
the Mississippi, including all the territory between the 
Alleghenies and the Mississippi river, excepting such as 
might be occupied by Banks. It included the armies 
of Burnside, Rosecrans and all the scattered forces of 
the Army of the Tennessee not sent to Banks. 

This wide field of operations was quite in the line of 
his frequent recommendations that the entire theatre of 
war as described be consolidated and placed under one 
head to the end of thorough co-operation. He, how- 
ever, had never suggested himself as the general to 
command it. There was dire need of him just then. 
Rosecrans, despite his reinforcements, badly defeated 
at Chickamauga, with heavy loss of men and artillery, as 
well as of strategic points of great importance, was 
besieged by a superior force in Chattanooga. With his 
line of supplies almost destroyed, his army was in danger 
of starvation. Brasfor, commandingf the Confederates in 

C50' O 

front of Chattanooga, felt strono- enoucrh to detach a 
heavy force under Longstreet, who had penned up Burn- 
side's little army in Knoxville. The situation was a 
serious one, and wild runiors of every sort were annoy- 
ing the government. How the zeal and splendid military 
genius of the new commander arose to the full measure 



VICKSBURG TO CHATTANOOGA. 417 

of his new duties will be recorded in subsequent 
chapters. 

In leaving the Army of the Tennessee, General Grant 
did so with deep regret. To an almost literal extent, he 
had made it. He had taken the scattered and undis- 
ciplined forces and formed them into an army. They 
had been associated with his first successes. With 
splendid spirit they had supported all his plans. No 
hardship, no danger, had daunted them. He was proud 
of the men, and they were proud of him, and the parting 
was full of mutual regret. To the end of his life the 
general always thought and spoke with affection of the 
Army of the Tennessee. 

2B 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 

"The hardest battle of the war" — Fought to secure Chattanooga — Preliminary 
movements — Bragg's army across the river — Thomas reinforced — Loomis artillery 
captured — Longstreet's arrival — His corps from Virginia — No conference between 
the Confederate wing commanders — Attack at daylight ordered — The obstructions 
of the field — Rosecrans' dispositions — Thomas to defend the vital point — Resting 
fur the fateful struggle. 

In September, 1863, 125.000 men tried to shoot each 
other to death from behind the trees and upon a few 
open fields that skirt the banks of the sluggish Chicka- 
mauga. The Indian word translated into English, means 
" the river of death." The wild men who long ago named 
and endowed the stream with traditions of strife litde 
dreamed that in the far-off future the white man would 
give its banks such a baptism of blood as to attract the 
attention of the world to its history, and confirm its right 
to wear the title the savage gave it. 

It is not necessary in a review of this, one of the 
phenomenal battles of the war, to recount the important 
movements of the two armies during the few days that 
they were marching toward this memorable field. There 
is enough to record after they met. The best military 
critics do not agree as to the policy, much less the bril- 
liancy, of many of the manoeuvres made by the military 
leaders who commanded the opposing forces in the great 
clash of arms that took place on and near the banks ol 
this stream. There is so much that is absorbing in a 
plain story of the struggle that there is not even propri- 
ety in here reviving the criminations and recriminations 
that at the time so seriously disturbed the harmony, if it 
418 



THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 419 

did not impair the efficiency, of both armies, and since 
has caused so much comment, and even harsh criticism. 

It has been said that war provokes a conflict of ideas 
and purposes as well as of arms. A faithful narrative of 
the eno-acrement that bears the name of this river would 
seem to confirm the truth of this saying, for both Rose- 
crans and Bragg, who here led two great armies into a 
desperate conflict, assert that their plans miscarried, and 
that their efforts did not bring decisive results, because 
some subordinates failed either to understand or perform 
the duties assigned them. This is generally accepted as 
a fact, and it is held that the mistakes of Chickamauga, 
even if dispassionately written, would add many an in- 
teresting page to its history. 

" Chickamauofa was the hardest battle of the war to 
fight, and this was the worst of battle-fields. It was a 
blind rush in the woods, where each tree was contested, 
and a company front could hardly be maintained. I 
might say it was a tussle in the wilderness. Simply a 
test of physical forces, without a chance for strategical 
manoeuvre or brilliant assault," said General James Long- 
street, the distinguished soldier who commanded the left 
wing of the Confederate army in the engagement upon 
this field. He stood by my side on the banks of the 
Chickamauga just above Alexander's bridge, and as he 
spoke was looking over the field again from the point 
where he crossed the river the night he came from 
Virginia to help Bragg fight the battle of Sunday. 

" It is twenty years next September since the great 
conflict here," he continued. " The field looks much as 
it did then, except the growth of young saplings that 
have sprung up about the old trees since those days, so 
like the generation of children that have grown among 
us who were then at war with each other. The forest 



420 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

still bears the marks of the bullets that then flew through 
it like a hail storm, and the scars that the artillery made 
are not all healed yet. Where shells or solid shot cut 
the top of a tree off, the fresh branches that have 
sprouted above the wound show you how long it has 
been since these messengers of destruction went flying 
over these fields and crashing through this timber. The 
river, fords, and all but the bridges, are the same now as 
then, and scarcely a field has been cleared since I massed 
my troops for the charge that broke the center of the 
Federal lines on that memorable Sunday in September," 
The stor>' of this battle has often been written, but the 
lights and shades have always been thrown into the nar- 
rative from a one-sided glass. Here it will be the pur- 
pose to try the plan of grouping the facts as they can be 
gathered from the principal actors on both sides, and 
then adding while on the field a story of the batde as 
told by the most distinguished officer who led Confederate 
troops in this action. 

The movements of the two hostile armies for several 
days prior to their meeting here had been directed 
toward securing Chattanooga, the natural gateway to 
Northern Georgia and East Tennessee. Some days 
before Bragg had moved out of it for fear of being 
flanked, and Rosecrans had ordered Crittenden to occupy 
it while he followed Bragg into Georgia with two corps 
of his army. Bragg, having drawn Rosecrans beyond 
the coveted point, turned and gave batde, with the hope 
of crushing him and then marching back into Chattanooga 
with the prestige of a decisive victory upon his banners. 
Rosecrans, having possession, hoped not only to hold the 
great avenue through which the Confederacy secured 
many of its supplies of coal, iron and nitre, but to finally 
beat Bragg in battle. He did not, however, desire to 



THE BATTLE OE CHICKAMAUGA. 421 

fight at the moment Bragg pressed him into an engage- 
ment here. 

The moves and counter-moves in this game of war 
that began about the ist of September, 1863, finally 
brought Rosecrans* three corps, comprising about 55,000 
men, on the west bank of the Chickamauga, within easy- 
supporting distance of each other, on the i8th, Bragg's 
army of about the same strength was nearly all concen- 
trated on the opposite side of the river. Bragg began the 
battle of Chickamauga during the closing hours of Friday, 
the 1 8th of September, when Forrest's cavalry, supported 
by Howell's and Bledsoe's batteries from Walker's divi- 
sion, crossed the river below Reed's Bridge, followed by 
General W. H. T. Walker's division of Confederate 
infantry. Colonel Wilder's Union brigade of mounted 
infantry became sharply engaged at Alexander's Bridge 
with another advancing Confederate force, and Colonel 
Minty's Michigan brigade of cavalry was driven back 
from Reed's Bridge as Forrest and Walker crossed their 
troops below it. The skirmishing was sharp, as Wilder 
and Minty attempted to delay the advance, and finally it 
approached the dignity of a combat as more troops were 
crossed at the different fords and bridges along the 
stream. The Confederate advance punished Minty 
severely, but Wilder was more fortunate. He first helped 
Minty out of his trouble, and when forced back himself 
contested every foot of the way. When he rested for 
the nisfht he was so near to the Confederate lines that 
it is written, " Wilder's pickets and those of the enemy 
were so close that they often grasped each other's guns 
in the darkness, and had a hand to hand struggle for their 
possession." 

The only really important result of the movements and 
observations on the iSth, as well as of this opening 



422 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

skirmish, was to unmask the Confederate plan to throw 
a strong force upon the Federal left and endeavor to 
secure possession of the Lafayette road, and thus get 
between the Union army and Chattanooga. This was 
important informadon, as it came to the Federal com- 
mander in time to enable him to reform and strengthen 
his line of battle to successfully meet the enemy's plan of 
attack. His first move was to withdraw Thomas from 
the right of the line near Lee and Gordon's mills on the 
Chickamauga and post him on the extreme left, die vital 
point of the field. Then he sent Sheridan and Davis with 
their divisions to join Crittenden's right and complete 
the line, which was much shortened by these changes. 
These dispositions were all made under cover of night, 
and were, as all such movements are, attended with 
many interesting incidents. Thomas marched his corps 
past Crittenden, whose position was not disturbed by the 
transfer of the Fourteenth Corps to the extreme left. 
Thomas had a long and tiresome march by Crittenden's 
bivouac, and then into the forest beyond. He had not 
only to grope his way in the dark after he passed Critten- 
den's line, but feel his front and fiank wiUi skirmishers 
all the way to his new position. 

Long, weary waits in the fresh, frosty night air 
tempted the men to make fires in the woods of the rail 
fences that followed the line on one side. While the 
march was yet in progress a line of light shone along the 
road, and opened a fresh danger to the weary troops. 
The Confederates might observe the silent column 
moving toward the left, change their plan and attack the 
weaker instead of the stronger part of the line. But this 
danger was only surmised, not realized. 

It was a new day, say two hours till dawn, when the 
toilsome march ended and Thomas' corps swung into its 



THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 423 

new position and the worn men rested on their arms. 
The sun rose bright and warm, and its first glances over 
the hills and vales that skirt the Chickamauga found bodi 
armies astir and preparing for batde. The Confederates 
had been busy all night as well as the Federals, and 
Bragg's army, excepting a portion of Hill's and Long- 
street's corps, had crossed the river at the several fords 
and bridges in front of the Federal line, and was moving 
into position shortly after daylight. 

Thomas opened the battle of the 19th for the Union 
side by sending Brannon with two brigades forward to 
attack any small force of the enemy he could encounter. 
His advance soon discovered " a small force," upon 
which it made a sharp attack and drove it some distance, 
when a heavy Confederate line rapidly advanced, drove 
Brannon back, and about ten o'clock in the morning 
struck the extreme left of Thomas' line, and soon pushed 
the fighting toward the right. Rosecrans, anticipating 
this movement, had ordered General McCook to send 
Johnson's division to Thomas, and before it had 
started Crittenden had already sent Palmer to his sup- 
port. Baird, Johnson, Palmer, Van Cleve and Reynolds 
were all sent forward, one after the other, to different 
parts of the line to repel the determined Confederate 
assault. Each in turn, although fighting stubbornly, was 
driven back by the force of the attack from masses of 
fresh troops that were pushed upon the Federal line. 
Finally Wood's division was thrown forward into the 
fight, and it was this balance that for a time turned the 
scale of battle toward the Union side. It pointed in this 
direction hardly long enough, however, to get steady, for 
the Confederates turned upon him as upon the others 
with fresh troops, and he, too, was about to be over- 
whelmed, when Sheridan's division was promptly sent to 



424 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

his support. This movement saved Wood, but it pre- 
cipitated a combat, the most serious of the day. It 
brought forces into the action that, for reasons which 
will appear later, fought with almost unparalleled de- 
termination. There was an old feud between them that 
both wanted to settle here. 

General Cheatham, with his famous division of Ten- 
nesseeans, had been held in reserve for an emergency 
where hard work was required. When Sheridan's 
troops were advanced to Wood's support, the emergency 
was at hand. The Confederate commander threw 
Cheatham, with his five brigades of splendid soldiers, 
forward to receive the shock of batde as Sheridan came 
sweeping the force from the field that had punished 
Wood. When these two divisions of sturdy soldiers, 
both led by hard fighters, struck there was serious work. 
It was the first time they had met face to face since 
that bloody field of Stone River, when they grappled 
on the Wilkinson pike and had a terrific hand to hand 
conflict, which, after varying successes, resulted in Cheat- 
ham's favor. Neither had forgotten the first test of 
strength and courage, and the recollecdons of it nerved 
them this day to desperate deeds. For nearly three 
hours they fought back and forth over the ground 
where they met, each in turn securing a momentary 
advantage. It was five o'clock before they got tired of 
pounding each other, and Cheatham reluctantly retired, 
rather badly shattered, from his second meeting witli 
Sheridan. Cleburne, another hard fighter and capital 
soldier, was, however, quickly sent to the field Cheatham 
had so stubbornly contested, and he more than regained 
the ground the Confederates had lost in the late after- 
noon fight. Howell's battery, that had lost a gun in 
Cheatham's melee with Sheridan, recovered it when 
Cleburne came to the rescue. 



THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 425 

** This contest during the afternoon of the 19th," said 
General Cheatham, speaking of this battle, " was as des- 
perate a fight as I ever witnessed, where fortifications 
were not in dispute. It was charge and counter-charge 
— a stubborn conflict between brave and determined 
men. I would not undertake to say what the loss was 
here, but it was heavy on both sides, and the results 
were not decisive for either force. I lost Preston Smith, 
one of my best brigade commanders, and many good 
men. I do not like to talk about the battle of Chicka- 
mauga, for the victory we gained there was lost to us by 
mismanagement and a failure to follow up the ad- 
vantage." 

The fighting had by no means been confined to the 
points above described. The whole line had been seri- 
ously engaged, for the Confederates early evinced a de- 
termination to break the Federal front somewhere, and, 
if possible, gain possession of one or more of the roads 
leadine toward Chattanooora. The assault was often so 
determined that the line was in danger at several places. 
Once the centre had been pressed so far back that 
artillery shots dropped about General Rosecrans' head- 
quarters, at the Widow Glen's house, and it was at 
times almost within musket range of the enemy. In- 
deed, it was only maintained here by pushing General 
Negley rapidly forward to recover the ground from 
which Van Cleve had been driven. 

When the darkness of night hushed the roar of batde 
it was found that amidst the varying successes and re- 
verses of the day the Federal position had been well 
maintained. They were still in possession of the roads 
that tended toward Chattanooga, and their losses were 
not more serious than those of the Confederates in 
killed, wounded and missing. In other words, it was a 



426 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

drawn fight The Union forces had, however, suffered 
some severe losses. The First Michigan Battery, the 
famous Loomis Artillery, had been captured, and Van 
Pelt, who was commanding it, had been killed at his guns 
while disputing with the Confederates for the possession 
of them after they had been taken. The loss of this 
heretofore invincible battery was seriously felt. Other 
guns had been lost, but none that were so much revered 
as those black instruments of death that bore the name 
of Loomis. It is a wonder that the losses were not 
greater. The whole line had been engaged, and the 
fiehtinof at times had been terrific. Neither force had 
the advantage of the shelter of even temporary works. 

The battle of the 1 9th w^as severe, and even desperate 
at times, but was simply the introduction to the greater 
tragedy of the 20th. When it closed the Federal com- 
mander was not without apprehensions as to his ability 
to meet the greater demands that were yet to be made 
upon his army. He had captured men from Longstreet's 
corps who told exaggerated stories of reinforcements yet 
coming. The single fact that Longstreet was here from 
the East opened the way for all sorts of conjectures as 
to the force to be met on Sunday. Every command 
within reach of the Federal leader that was available for 
batde, except two brigades, had been actively engaged 
in the first day's fight. It was well known that Bragg 
would have reinforcements for the decisive battle of the 
20th. This addition to his force, whatever it was.would 
not only give him the advantage of superior numbers, 
but of fresh troops, that were not tired out from either 
marching or fighting. These grave considerations did 
not, however, disturb the weary men, worn out with the 
exacting labors of the day. They slept upon their arms 
among the dead and dying without even a friendly fire 



THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 427 

by which to cook them a bite to eat or to throw its flick- 
ering- glare upon the hfeless bodies around tliem, that 
they might know whether they were among corpses of 
friends or foes. All was silent. Not a sound broke the 
stillness, save now and then a random shot or the groans 
of the dying. But the men were even too worn to heed 
their appeals, and to perform many acts of kindness to 
relieve their sufferings. 

While the rank and file of both armies thus rested, 
and the picket lines that stood guarding the slumbering 
hosts almost touched each other, the leading Generals of 
Rosecrans' army assembled at his headquarters. The 
grave situation was earnesdy discussed. It was evident 
to all that the fate of the army hung in the balance ; that 
the battle to be fought on the morrow was to be a life 
and death struggle for its safety. It is no wonder, then, 
that they counselled long and carefully, and that the 
commander made his dispositions with a view to save 
his army from the great peril that seemed to encompass 
it. It was not until the new day had been born that this 
important council of war ended, and the Federal Gene- 
rals rode away to their various commands, weighted not 
only with the responsibilities that their chief had imposed 
upon them, but with the andcipation of many that the 
Confederates would force upon them early in the mor- 
nincT. 

While the Federal Generals were maturing their plans 
the Confederate Commander and his Lieutenants were 
not idle. They were also holding a council of war, and 
discussing with each other the details of the battle they 
expected to begin at daylight next morning. Bragg 
does not seem to have made his dispositions with the 
same care as Rosecrans. When Longstreet arrived, 
at eleven o'clock at night, the Confederate council 



428 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was over and the Generals who composed it gone. He 
had no opportunity to discuss with them the opera- 
tions of the morrow and get down to a close understand- 
ing of the position of the troops he was to direct and 
the character of the field upon which he was expected to 
fight. He met Polk on the road while he was riding to 
Bragg's headquarters, but they had no time to confer, 
and after exchanging the customary courtesies separated, 
and never saw each other aftenvard. They, therefore, 
fought the battle of Chickamauga, Polk commanding the 
right and Longstreet the left wing of the Confederate 
army, without even speaking to each other of the plan of 
battle or of the disposition of the troops to meet an 
emergency that might at any moment arise. This is not 
a more remarkable evidence, however, than was often 
furnished of the slip-shod military methods that too often 
characterized some of the commanders of both Confed- 
erate and Federal armies during the war for the Union. 

When Longstreet reached Bragg's headquarters he 
was just off the cars at Ringgold, and the troops he 
brought with him were following along, except three 
brigades that had arrived before him, and were in the 
fight of the 19th. The Confederate commander welcomed 
him cordially, and at once went over with him the plan 
of battle. He outlined his dispositions as far as possible, 
and stated the duties he would impose upon him in the 
fast approaching conflict. They parted after a short 
talk, and Longstreet rode away. 

" I had no idea where I was," said General Longstreet, 
speaking of this feature of his first experience in the 
West. " It was brioht moonlisjht, and I looked over the 
ground as best I could. 1 knew nothing of the country. 
All I knew about it was that it was Georgia soil." 

Polk's orders were to attack at daylight, and had he 



THE BATTLE OE CHICKAMAUGA. 429 

obeyed them Longstreet would have gone into the fight 
in command of one wing of a great army without a chance 
to post his men with an intelhgent understanding of the 
lay of the land, the position of the enemy or the location 
of the troops he was to join. When he left Bragg he 
went forward toward the position he was expected to occu- 
py before day had fairly dawned, and snatched a few 
minutes' sleep in the woods by the roadside. 

The few hours between the councils of war at the 
headquarters of the opposing forces and the beginning 
of the batde were full of incidents that were both strik- 
ing and interesting. The Federal pioneer corps were 
busy felling trees and throwing up a few rude defenses, 
that might be of some value to Thomas when the fury of 
the fight broke upon him. The ground was so broken 
and so heavily timbered that there was litde chance for 
fordfying, but what litde there was the Federal com- 
manders took advantage of. 

The debris that always flows from a batde-field was all 
night long crowding toward the rear. Men sick, soldiers 
wounded, strasforlers, ambulance and ammunition trains 
filled the road toward Chattanooga. This wreck of the 
fight was a painful reminder of the exacdons of war, and 
the varying stories of death, disaster and success that the 
demoralized mass of humanity told on its way back be- 
yond the reach of bullets simply revealed the fevered 
imagination of the relaters, who saw the fight from many 
different points. 

The field of Chickamauga is indeed a singular selection 
for a batde-ground. Nearly the whole field is heavily 
timbered with oak and pine, and the undergrowth is so 
thick as to make it difficult to get through on horseback. 
The ground is broken, especially toward Missionar)' 
Ridfre, into numerous hills and valleys, all heavily tim- 



430 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

bered. On such a field no human eye could follow the 
line of battle any distance, and such a thing as preserving 
a regimental formation could not have been attempted 
with success. Why it was ever selected by a General 
who was picking his place to fight a decisive engagement 
is still a mystery. 

Bragg's line of battle and all his troops were on the 
west bank of the Chickamauga on the 20th, looking to- 
ward Chattanooga. It was a very dangerous position if 
he had met with a reverse, for the stream was just behind 
him. The river here winds a zio^za"- course toward the 
north and east, but fortunately it played little or no part 
in the great tragedy that bears its name. When General 
Bragg's troops were in line of battle they were disposed 
as follows : Right wing, Lieutenant-General Polk com- 
manding — Cheatham's division of Polk's corps, Cleburne's, 
Breckinridge's, Walker's and Liddell's divisions of Hill's 
corps. Left wing, Lieutenant-General Longstreet com- 
manding — McLaw's, Hood's, Hindman's divisions of his 
own corps, and Stewart's, Preston's and Johnson's divi- 
sions of Buckner's corps. 

Rosecrans' dispositions were doubtless the best that 
could have been made. Thomas was ordered to hold the 
left at all hazards, and Rosecrans sent him word that he 
would send all of McCook's and Crittenden's corps to 
him if he needed them to hold his position. It was the 
pivot that secured the main road to Chattanooga, and, 
therefore, the vital point of the field. To study this 
battle, then, so as to get fair light upon it, one must begin 
and end with the position that Thomas, the cool, quiet, 
unpretending, yet great soldier, occupied when he sat 
down at the Snodgrass House and stubbornly held on to 
that hill, even after nearly all the rest of the army had 
been driven from the field. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE SECOND DAY S FIGHT. 



The commanders early astir— Rosecrans finds fault" with McCook— Polk fails to 
attack at daylight— Wood's terrible mistake— Longstreet's famous charge in mass 
— McCook and Crittenden forced back— Thomas' splendid tenacity— Steedman's 
gallant charge— Fighting for darkness— Federal retreat— Bragg fails to pursue- 
Nearly 40,000 lost on both sides. 

Day broke on the 20th to find the hostile forces astir. 
The commanders of both armies were at the front before 
the gray dawn of the morning had given way to the 
brighter light reflected by the rising sun. Rosecrans 
rode his lines to find serious fault with the way McCook, 
Wood and some others had made their dispositions. He 
gave directions for such changes to be made as he 
deemed best, but there was delay in executing his orders. 
From early morning until full meridian the Federal leader 
seems to have been kept busy with tr)'ing to correct the 
misunderstandings of his subordinates, or remedy their 
cross-purposes. Bragg was hardly less fortunate than 
Rosecrans. He had ordered Polk to attack at daylight, 
and he was himself ready at that hour to watch the shift- 
ing scenes of the fight. But full dawn grew into the 
flush of day, and yet there was no sign of an assault. 
Bragg fretted and fumed and sent staff officers again and 
again to know why the attack had not been made. It 
was not easy to find Polk. It was said that he slept be- 
yond his lines and could not readily be reached. Whether 
this be true or not, the General who was to begin the 
attack at dawn did not get ready to drop his first shots 
into the Federal line until some time after nine o'clock 

431 



432 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in the morning. What a strange miscarriage of plans, 
and how clearly does a study of them bear evidence to 
the truth of the saying that war is a series of experi- 
ments ; that battles are won oftener by an accident than 
by strategy or the fulfillment of matured plans. 

Bracrg's plan of battle depended for success on his 
breakino- the Federal line on the left, and he seems to 
have made no provision for another movement if this 
failed. He directed Polk to make a determined attack 
on Thomas, and as he turned his position to wheel to the 
left. Each division in turn was to take up the fighting 
as it followed down toward the right of the line, and as 
each succeeded in driving the Federals it was to wheel 
to the left until the Union forces were swept from the 
field. Longstreet's left at Lee and Gordon's Mills was 
to be the pivot upon which this peculiar swinging move- 
ment was to be made. 

When Polk was finally found and his breakfast di- 
gested he began his assault, in accordance with Bragg's 
plans. He first sent Breckinridge's division against 
Thomas' position, but he was forced to retire. He then 
sent another and still another, and for two hours kept 
Dushine brigades and divisions of the best soldiers in the 
Confederate army against Thomas' corps now remforced 
by some of the strongest commands in the Army of the 
Cumberland. Yet the left was sorely pushed at times, 
and doubtless might have been broken had Polk kept 
his force well in hand and sent it to the assault with de- 
termination. But he made a sort of desultory fight. To 
use a homely, but forcible, simile : " he fought like a 
balky horse pulls at a load." He pushed fragments of 
his command in and then withdrew them, instead of 
massing his force and throwing It upon the flank he was 
expected to turn. He had some of the finest soldiers in 



THE SECOND DATS FIGHT. 433 

the army with which to have made such an onset — 
Breckinridge's, Cleburne's, Cheatham's, Walker's and 
Liddell's divisions, that had proved their fighting quali- 
ties on many a field. 

Both RosecransandBragghadallthe morning been fret- 
tingoverthe miscarriage of their plans, and been laboring 
to inspire their subordinate commanders with their spirit 
and purposes. Bragg got over his difficulties, however, 
sooner than Rosecrans, for the Federal commander was 
disturbed about his line for two hours after Polk had en- 
gaged Thomas. The right and center of Rosecrans' 
line seem to have become more mixed up the more he 
tried to remedy it. Wood, who was a good soldier and 
a stubborn fighter, appears to have been most to blame 
for the disturbance, although McCook, Negley and some 
others, appear to have been accused, justly or unjustly, of 
a lack of promptness, or a misconcep ion of the neces- 
sities of the situation. I 

Polk was still hammering away at liomas with such 
leaders as Cleburne, Cheatham, Bre rcinridge. Walker 
and Liddell, when Longstreet asked Bragg if he had not 
better attack, as Polk seemed to be making no headway. 
Bragg said yes, and he began massing his troops for a 
desperate effort to sever the Federal lines in his front. 
Polk's delay in making the attack had given Longstreet 
an opportunity to ride his lines, to take a careful survey 
of the field, and make his dispositions with great care. 
He had his force in hand for hard work, and when it 
came his turn to attack he moved his troops forward to 
the assault with a thorough understanding of the desper- 
ate duty before him. It was unfortunate for the Federals 
that Wood had withdrawn his troops from the line, leav- 
ing a breach in it just as Longstreet sent his fresh and 
determined soldiers forward under Hood, with orders to 

2C 



434 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



push their antagonists off the field at any cost. They 
went with a rush and struck the Union troops where 




GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET. 

Wood iiad weakened the line Davis was trying- to patch 
up with his reserved brigade. 

To attempt to describe this charge of Longstreet's and 



THE SECOND DATS FIGHT. 435 

its effect upon the Federal line would be like picturing a 
whirlwind striking a forest and cutting a winrow through 
sturdy trees. 

In describing it General Longstreet said : " I moved 
my troops into position for the assault with great care. I 
massed five brigades in column at half distance, and sent 
them forward under the leadership of Hood. In oth':,^ 
words, Hood led my whole force, with the exception of 
Buckner's reserves, against the Federal position. I felt 
great interest in winning the battle of Chickamauga. I 
had promised General Lee, before leaving Virginia, 
that I would do my share towards gaining a victory here, 
and I never remember to have taken greater chances in 
a battle than in directing this charge against Rosecrans. 
He and I had graduated in the same class at West Point, 
and were friends in our boyhood and early army life. He 
was a good soldier and a brave man. I have read in his 
report, as well as in the stories of this battle that have 
been written from time to time, that my success in break- 
ing- his line and in driving McCook and Crittenden from 
the field is attributed to Wood's action in withdrawing 
his two brigades from the Federal line about the time I 
started Hood forward to the assault." 

"The success of my attack on Rosecrans did not by any 
means depend upon Wood's mistake. The number of 
men and the peculiar formation of the force that I sent 
against the Federal line in this battle could and would 
have carried any position except a strongly fortified one. 
The action of his subordinates and the movement of 
Wood in and out of the line may have made the victory 
easier, but Rosecrans' line could never have withstood 
the force of the assault I sent against it that day, no mat- 
ter how well his plans had been observed or his orders 
obeyed. No line of battle outside of fortifications ever 



436 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

yet successfully resisted the charge of troops in such 
numbers and formation. Our assaulting column was five 
brio-ades deep, each within easy supporting distance. 
Hood led them with great spirit and gallantry. If one 
brigade faltered another was there to take its place. I 
have been a soldier all my life ; served in the Mexican 
as well as in the late war, and I never yet saw a body of 
soldiers not protected by fortifications that could stand 
the onset of troops in formation such as Hood led against 
Rosecrans' lines that September Sunday." 

It was the first time in our history as a nation that 
troops in such formation had been sent against an 
enemy. Hancock afterward tried it with success against 
a fortified position in the angle at Spotsylvania after 
Longstreet demonstrated at Chickamauga how impossible 
it was for troops in the field to withstand the fury of such 
an onset. Wood's action in withdrawing his force from 
the line was no doubt indefensible, and other commanders 
may have been to blame for defects in their line, but the 
plain facts seem to be that Rosecrans had massed too 
much of his force on the left under Thomas, and the 
right and centre were forced to yield to the fury of such 
a rush as Longstreet made against them. Hood, leading 
five brigades of Longstreet's wing, in column by brigades 
at half distance, to use a militar>^ phrase, crushed through 
the Federal line shordy after noon, and beat McCook 
and Crittenden before they had a chance to recover. He 
followed up his advantage with great spirit, cutting the 
army in two, capturing many pieces of artillery, stands of 
colors and prisoners. Rosecrans, who was caught in the 
wreck that Bowed off the batde-ficld, as the Confederates 
mad with the flush of success, pushed on after the demor- 
alized battalions, was nearly made prisoner. He thought 
he could stay the tide of defeat as he did at Murfreesboro 



THE SECOND DAY'S FIGHT. 437 

by his personal daring, but this was a different field and 
here a greater peril. The more he tried to bring order 
out of chaos and to rally his retreating soldiers, as the 
enemy were pushing toward him, the greater the confu- 
sion. It finally carried him off the field just in time to 
save him from capture. He thought of making his way to 
Thomas, but was so firmly caught in the debris of the bat- 
tle that he found his only chance was to move with his staff 
to the rear, toward Rossville, from which point he sent 
word back to u rge Thomas to hold on to the left if possible. 

The disaster to McCook and Crittenden's corps of 
Rosecrans' army was, no doubt, greatly exaggerated by 
the fevered imagination of the rank and file of the shat- 
tered commands. It seems to have been serious enough, 
however, to be called a demoralizing defeat. Among all 
the splendid officers that commanded in the two corps 
that were broken not one could be found who could re- 
form his lines. Sheridan did get his troops back to 
Rossville in something like order, and Wilder seems to 
have kept his mounted infantry in good condition, for he 
secured the commendation of Thomas and the much- 
coveted star for his work upon the field. His official 
report furnishes a striking piece of evidence as to the 
general demoralization when Longstreet cut the army in 
two. It reads : 

"Lieutenant-Colonel Thurston, Chief of McCook's 
Staff, soon appeared, and notified me that the line to 
my left was driven back and dispersed, and advised that 
I had better fall back to Lookout Mountain. I deter- 
mined, however, to cut my way through and join General 
Thomas, and was arranging my line for that purpose 
when Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, 
came up, and said that our troops had fled in utter 
panic ; that it was a w^orse rout than Bull Run ; that 



438 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General Rosecrans was probably killed or captured, and 
strongly advised me to fall back and occupy the passes 
over Lookout Mountain to prevent the rebel occupancy 
of them." Mr. Dana had come West representing the 
War Department to observe military operations on the 
field. Wilder's report would seem to indicate that his 
experiences here were not pleasant, while Mr. Dana fur- 
nishes the best of testimony that Rosecrans was pretty 
badly whipped here. The Union loss was great. The 
gallant and gifted General Lytle, who wrote " I am 
Dying, Egypt, Dying," lost his life during the heat of 
this portion of the fight. 

" I cannot give a description of the field as my troops 
drove McCook and Crittenden before them," General 
Longstreet said. " Those two corps were simply a 
wreck. Rosecrans' whole army was saved from destruc- 
tion by Bragg's failure to follow up his advantages. 
The fiehtino- had been serious all the mornino^, but with- 
out results. This break was the turning point of the 
battle, and it gave us a substantial victory that Bragg 
threw away by allowing Rosecrans to escape and re- 
orn^anize his army." 

Rosecrans and Longstreet had been class-mates and 
friends at West Point. Longstreet had earnestly urged 
General Lee to make the campaign against his former 
friend that resulted in this batde. The irony of fate was 
fully exemplified in the fact that it remained for him to 
first break the Federal line and to sweep Rosecrans' 
ricfht and center from the field. 

When Bragg planned his battle here upon the same 
gauge as he did at Murfreesboro he had made no pro- 
visions for the changes that the tide of the conflict might 
make in it. Tlicrcfore, Longstreet, when he had broken 
the lines and swept the greater portion of Crittenden's 



THE SECOND DAY'S FIGHT. 439 

and McCook's troops through the gap in Missionary 
Ridge, reversed Bragg's order of battle and swung to 
the right instead of the left, with the intention of en- 
veloping Thomas and making the defeat of the army 
complete. 

" My first thought after facing toward Thomas." said 
Longstreet when speaking to me of this important phase 
of the battle, " was to cease the fighting in his front, 
leave a force strong enough to engage his attention, 
move around to his rear, cut him off from Chattanooga, 
and he would be at our mercy. I spoke of this plan to 
Bragg. He replied : 

" ' No, you must engage him here. I haven't a man 
except yours that has any fight in him.' 

" With this libel upon such fine soldiers as Cleburne, 
Breckinridge, Cheatham, Walker and several other 
generals of Polk's wing commanding in this fight he 
left me. His first move seems to have been to counter- 
mand my order to Wheeler to hody pursue Crittenden 
and McCook with his cavalry. He directed him to turn 
his attention to collecting the small-arms left on the field 
and driving in the stragglers. When I spoke to him 
about sending the cavalry after the enemy, he said he 
thought their best work was cleaning up the field." 

The final move against Thomas was an important one. 
He had held his position and withstood the repeated and 
determined efforts of the Confederates to dislodge or 
annihilate him during that endre day. Time and again, 
when he was sorely pressed, he sent for reinforcements, 
but they did not reach him, and for a long time after 
Longstree*- had broken through the centre he was in 
utter ignorance of the fate of the rest of the army. A 
staff officer from one of the demoralized corps joined 
him after a hazardous ride, and first told him of the dis- 



440 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

aster. Still he held his ground, and fought in the des- 
perate hope that some order might possibly be brought 
out of the chaos and he get reinforcements. By one of 
those strange accidents that ever seem inseparable from 
war, his ammunition train had been sent to the rear, and 
when fresh efforts were required of his men he found 
they were getting short of ammunition, and he had none 
to give them. 

General Gordon Granger, who was at Rossville with 
three brigades in reserve for an emergency heard the 
terrible roar of batde getdng nearer and nearer as the 
afternoon wore on. He was ordered to remain where 
he was until sent for, but feeling there was trouble in 
front, he sent Steedman forward with all possible speed 
toward Thomas' position with two brigades, keeping one 
at Rossville. A fresh attack had been begun upon 
Thomas before Granger's troops reached the field. 

Granger's two brigades reached Thomas at an oppor- 
tune time. Longstreet had begun to move forward to 
drive him from his position. The head of the Confederate 
line, Benning's brigade, was moving through a low defile 
between the hills when Granger's troops came up. Steed- 
man, seeing the peril to Thomas' force if this brigade 
got in, snatched the colors of a regiment and led his 
brigades with a fiirious rush upon the Confederate ad- 
vance. For a time there was a hand-to-hand conflict, 
and the result hung in the balances. At last the Con- 
federate line began to waver, and finally it broke. This 
movement was valuable to Thomas because it brought 
him nearer to night-fall, for which he was fervently wish- 
ing. As Steedman himself expressed it : "I .vas fighting 
for time, but I thought the sun would never go down ; it 
seemed to me as though it was hung up in the trees." 

" Steedman had but a short fight with our advance, 



THE SECOND DAY'S FIGHT. 441 

and his success was not important, except that it caused 
a delay in the Confederate movements," continued Gen- 
eral Longstreet. "We had plenty of troops to put in as 
soon as Steedman drove them back. Indeed, we were 
forming- our whole line for a final attack while this com- 
bat was eoine on. As soon as we could cfet in readiness 
to advance we moved forward and drove Thomas' force 
from its position behind the rail defenses with compara- 
tive ease. We had reached the summit of the hill, almost 
in sight of this point where Thomas' headquarters were, 
when the p-loamins: thickened into the darkness, and the 
Federal force melted away like a phantom. 

"Just at this miOment my men sent up a shout of vic- 
tory, and it was taken up along the whole line and con- 
tinued until the woods shook with the cheers of the men. 
Cheatham, Cleburne and their commands, down on the 
Lafayette road, kept up the cheering with one long con- 
tinued shout. Forrest, who saw the Federals going to 
the rear, went to Bragg and begged for permission to 
follow the retreating army, and I sent him word that our 
victory was now complete, and the fruits of it should be 
rapidly gathered. He did not seem to catch the spirit of 
the occasion, and as Thomas' lines faded away in the 
darkness toward Rossville, Bragg sat down to wonder 
what he had better do next. 

" As devoudy as Thomas had wished for the sun to go 
down, I asked that Sunday night for one single hour 
more of daylight. We would have swept Thomas from 
the field, and what was simply a victory for us would 
have been the destruction of the Federal army. 

" Thomas was beaten, badly beaten, before the dark- 
ness came and gave him a chance to slip away, and his 
hanging on after the rest of the army had been driven 
off is a lasting tribute to his qualities as a soldier. It 



442 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was a noble action, and his success will live in history, 
as it should, as a grand accident of war." 

"When I urged General Bragg to pursue and reap 
the fruits of victory, he said it was too dark and danger- 
ous, as the Federals had probably only withdrawn to a 
new position. I visited him the morning of the 21st 
about daylight, and found him still in doubt as to his 
future movements. He had lost much by resting over 
night, but might still have followed up his advantage with 
success. He asked me what I thought he had better do. 
I advised him, as he was doubtful as to the policy of fol- 
lowing up Rosecrans, that he had better march toward 
Nashville, threaten or destroy his line of communications 
and leave the defeated army to follow him or take care 
of itself. He agreed that this would be a good move, and 
ordered his troops to march toward the Capitol of Ten- 
nessee. The most of his command had crossed the Chick- 
amauga River and was pushing toward Nashville, when 
Braofo' sent to me and said that he thouo^ht that it would 
have a good effect upon the Southern people if it were 
known that his army was marching through Chattanooga 
with bands playing and banners flying in honor of the vic- 
tory of Chickainauga; he, therefore, thought that he would 
turn back and march upon that place. I replied that I 
thought it would have a much better effect upon the South- 
ern people if they knew that he was following up his 
victory by a flank movement on Rosecrans, since he had 
failed to crush him while his army was demoralized. 

" A short time after this Brasfof issued orders turninof 
his army toward Chattanooga, and it was not long before 
he was occupying Missionary Ridge, and giving the 
Federal commander an opportunity to combine all the 
force he needed to attack us at a dozen different points 
at the same time, if he desired, and defeat us in detail. 



THE SECOND DAY'S EIGHT. 443 

" It is due to the living and the dead that I should say 
that General Lee was very greatly disappointed that the 
result on this field was thus thrown away. He had 
agreed with me that after Gettysburg there was little 
hope for the Confederate cause, unless we could win a 
decisive and overwhelming victory at some point. He 
had finally but reluctantly abandoned his plan to move 
back into Pennsylvania that fall in order to fight a great 
battle in the West and try to gain the substantial success 
he felt we so much needed. We won the victory here, 
but reaped none of its fruits. The last chance for the 
Confederacy was gone when Bragg returned toward 
Chattanooga for a dress parade and then settled down 
about Missionary Ridge." 

This is the plain story of Chickamauga. The faithful 
narrative of the war for the Union will not present the 
record of a sing-le en^ao-ement that exceeded it in the 
demands it made upon the courage and endurance of the 
officers and soldiers of both armies. In no single battle 
of the war were the losses orreater. Rosecrans lost from 
his 55,000 men 16,336 in killed, wounded and missing. 
Bragg in his official report made the astounding confession 
that he lost two-fifths of his 70,000 men. His estimated 
losses are 20,950 ; nearly 40,000 men from the two armies. 

General Grant was not in this ferocious clash of arms, 
nor did he have aught to do with it. Yet its terrible re- 
sults, the fears it bred and the intrigues and prejudices it 
excited, in circles beyond his influence created new duties 
and responsibilities for him. To these General Grant was 
called after his campaign that opened the Mississippi, 
had drawn national attention to him as a man possessing 
the broadest attributes of success. Therefore, this story 
of Chickamauga is important as a connecting link in the 
chain of movements the result of which promoted him to 
the command of all the Federal armies. 



444 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Had Bragg shown the proper spirit in this campaign, 
it is difficult to predict how long the rebellion might have 
been continued. Of course, by reason of the immense 
Northern resources, the Union was bound to be eventu- 
ally maintained, but the loss of life and of treasure would, 
unquestionably, have been vastly greater but for the dis- 
aster which befel Bragg. The most important effect of 
the battle to the North was the fact it established that, 
for the right conduct of the war, the armies should be 
under one head. It impressed upon the authorities the 
futility of a fragmentary campaign, although it was some- 
time afterwards before the idea was acted upon, and 
Grant was not then in the mind of the nation as the man 
for general command. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE BAITLES ABOUT CHATrANOOGA. 

After Chickamauga — Rosecran's removal — Thomas in command — Grant as Com- 
mander of the western armies — He reaches the scene of operations after a hard 
ride — A half-starved army — " The gloomiest part of my life " — Plans for relief — 
Plenty of rations — Preparations for the attack. 

After withdrawing from the field of Chickamauga, at 
the close of the second day's battle, the Army of the 
Cumberland took position at the Rossville Gaps in Mis- 
sionary Ridge, in the rear of the field. These were the 
passes which controlled the roads to Chattanooga, the 
objective of the campaign. Here the Union army 
offered batde throughout the 21st of September. The 
Confederates, however, did not attack. At night the 
Union forces marched into Chattanooga, and on the 
morning of the 2 2d its lines were firmly established 
around the town. Though small bodies of Union troops 
had passed into and through the city when the flanking 
movement of General Rosecrans forced Bragg to evacu- 
ate it, this was its first occupation, in a military sense, 
by the Army of the Cumberland. It was both the object 
and the prize of the campaign. 

For years the commonly accepted theory was that 
Chattanooga had been captured by General Rosecrans, 
that he had marched thence in pursuit of General Bragg, 
had been attacked and defeated at Chickamauga, and 
driven back into Chattanooga in confusion. 

Instead of this he had marched his army over three 
mountain ranges and appeared far in the rear of Chat- 

(445) 



446 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

tanoog-a. Brac^g was thus forced to abandon the city 
and march into Georgia; but being stronglv reinforced 
from Mississippi and Virginia he started back to again 
interpose his army between Rosecrans and Chattanooga. 
The battle of Chickamauga, which was for the posses- 
sion of the roads to Chattanooga, resulted. Bragg failed 
in his object, though he held the field ; Rosecrans suc- 
ceeded In his because he secured the highways and passes 
which controlled Chattanooga, althouirh the issue of the 
battle had gone sadly against him. 

Before noon of the 2 2d Bragg's heads of columns 
appeared before that city, but the Union lines were too 
well established about Rossvllle to justify immediate at- 
tack. In addition to the protection of strong Confederate 
works which Bragg had erected before his evacuation of 
the place, rifle-pits and other rough field-works had 
been hastily constructed by the Union forces. The 
buildings outside these lines which would orive shelter to 
the skirmishers, or the outposts of an enemy, were fired 
and destroyed. Thus was the position firmly estab- 
lished. 

Rosecrans' withdrawal from Lookout Mountain en- 
abled Bragg to control the river line of supplies, and 
seems to have determined him not to assault, but to de- 
pend for final success upon the slower methods of a siege. 
To aid this plan, he counted upon starvation as the most 
potent factor. 

In this he seemed both prudent and wise. So far as 
military judgment on either side could decide, the city 
could not be carried by assault. It was wisdom to conclude 
that the troops which Longstrcet's veterans could not 
force from the unfortified ridges of Chickamauga by 
most desperate and magnificent fighting could not be 
driven out of their rude but substantial field-works. 



THE BATTLES ABOUT CHATTANOOGA. 447 

Rosecrans' army had set out on the Chickamauga 
campaign with Httle forage, and with only twenty-five 
days' rations. It reached Chattanooga with short siip- 
pHes. These were only slightly increased before Bragg 
had closed the river, and forced the Union army to de- 
pend upon what could be hauled over the sixty miles of 
mountain roads from Bridgeport. 

These roads were soon rendered almost impassable 
by the fall rains. The team animals were so reduced, 
and the time occupied in a trip so great, that the space 
required for the train forage occupied half the capacity 
of the wagons. It was quite impossible to supply half 
rations to the army. In three weeks the men were 
reduced even below that limit. Corn was taken from 
the animals and given to the troops. The officers fared 
worse than the men. Many ate sour pork and mouldy 
bread, and at some brigade head-quarters dinners con- 
sisted of cornmeal mush. Indeed, starvation seemed to 
stare this gallant army in the face. Animals died by the 
thousand, and those that lived were useless for real ser- 
vice. 

But every one who passed through this experience 
knows how unjust the stories were which represented 
the Army of the Cumberland as demoralized. Every 
duty of troops in the face of an alert enemy was 
promptly performed. Work on the fortifications was 
pushed by hungry men, and it went on without halt. 
Bridge and boat-building were pressed with vigor. 
There was no thought of ultimate defeat in the 'minds 
of any. The Preat Confederate strono-hold of Chat- 
tanooga, the objective of the army on two campaigns, 
had been captured, and the purpose was to hold it at any 
cof^t. There was unbounded confidence in the result, 
unfaltering courage, and uncomplaining endurance. 



448 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

At this juncture, while General Rosecrans was per- 
ftjcting plans for opening the river, he was removed, and 
General Thomas assigned to the command. The army 
was still devoted to Rosecrans and regretted this step 
ao-ainst him, though it loved General Thomas, and 
oloried in him as the new commander. Thomas him- 
self felt the injustice to Rosecrans so keenly that he 
threatened to resign, and it was with difficulty, and only 
because duty overweighed his personal feelings, that he 
was persuaded to reconsider his firmly expressed deter- 
mination. Deep-seated prejudices at Washington, 
quickened by intrigues from unexpected and supposably 
friendly quarters, decided the matter, and Rosecrans was 
sent to the rear. 

At this juncture General Grant assumed command of 
the great operations in this quarter. Immediately after 
the battle of Chickamauga, Halleck had ordered Hooker, 
with the Eleventh and Twelfth corps from the Army of the 
Potomac, to Rosecrans' relief In seven days the head 
of his columns was at Bridgeport. Ten days before 
the battle of Chickamauga, Burnside had been ordered 
to Rosecrans from Knoxville, but, though urged in every 
way, he had utterly tailed to carry out his orders. Six 
days before the battle, Sherman, with troops from the 
Mississippi, was ordered toward Chattanooga. But 
nothing had been able to spur Burnside to action on the 
one flank, and the Washington authorities had delayed 
much too lone in their orders for reinforcements from 
the Mississippi ; but when at length a partial apprecia- 
tion of the situation had taken possession of them their 
actions became adequate and vigorous. 

The new regime began with General Grant command- 
ing the military division of the Mississippi, and Thomas 
commanding the Army of the Cumberland. Thomas 



THE BATTLES ABOUT CHATTANOOGA. 419 

was so designated on October 19th, and at 11 o'clock 
that night Grant telegraphed him : " Hold Chattanooo-a 
at all hazards. I will be there as soon as possible." The 
reply of that grand old soldier was characteristic: "I 
will hold the town until we starve." Althoucrh suffering 
from a serious injury, Grant without delay started from 
Louisville by rail. Arriving at Nashville he manifested 
how thoroughly his mind had been engrossed with the 




GENERAL THOMAS. 

details of his now widened duties by wiring Burnside at 
Knoxville, " Have you tools for fortifying ? " Even the 
food of the troops claimed his attention, and on the road 
he wired orders to the chief commissary to forward vege- 
tables with all speed. Rosecrans, on his way north 
after relief, was met at Stevenson, and in a brief inter- 
view described the situation to Grant. He grasped th^ 
salient points which needed attention with the celerity 

2D 



450 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of the born oeneral. His mind seemed a map upon 
which every move and obstacle was traced. At every 
station where he rested tor a moment he telegraphed 
instructions to the important subordinates in his great 
department as he discovered some new point to be 
reached or some new obstacle to be overcome. The 
injury he had received in New Orleans by a fall from 
his horse was still painful, and he moved about with dif- 
ficulty. But his bodily infirmities did not mar the activ- 
ity of his mind, and he moved into the assumption of 
the greatest responsibilities yet thrown upon a Federal 
commander with as perfect composure and confidence as 
he had ever shown in making the simplest move in his 
singular career. The weather was very bad, the roads 
wretched, and sixty miles of horseback-riding lay be- 
tween Bridgeport and his destination. The journey 
thither was a memorable one. Rain fell in torrents. 
The roads, rough at any season, were washed into deep 
gullies ; but over obstacles that might have daunted a 
well man Grant pushed on, being now and again lifted 
from his horse and carried in the arms of his soldiers 
over the most dangerous points. On the night of the 
23d, tired and in pain, he reached Thomas' head- 
quarters. 

Most of the night was spent with Thomas learning 
the exact situation. Grant was deeply impressed with 
the condition of the half-starved troops ; and it is natural 
that he should at first have thought that their spirit must 
be broken by their surroundings. But he knew this 
indomitable army better after a few days' association and 
acquaintance. The next day after his arrival active 
measures to insure relief were in progress. 

General Grant was very much disturbed by what he 
first heard and saw at Chattanooga. Up to his death he 



THE BATTLES ABOUT CHATTANOOGA. 451 

re2;-arded his first few days in and about the belea^^uered 
town as the most perplexing of his hfe. During his first 
term as President he was speaking to Admiral Daniel Am- 
men upon this subject, and said : " The gloomiest period 
of my whole army life was just before I broke the blockade 
at Chattanooga. The horses were starving and the men 
were without sufficient food, yet they kept in good heart 
and temper. The Tack of animals and the condition of 
those that still lived made it impossible for me to move 
my artillery, and for the first time of my life I felt a 
want of confidence in my surroundings. Until the im- 




GR ANT'S HKAD-QUARTERS NEAR CHATTANOOGA. 

portant move was made which brought in rations and 
forage, I felt the gravest apprehensions as to the result." 
Plans which General Rosecrans had adopted before 
his removal for the opening of the river to Bridgeport, 
where supplies were abundant, and which had just been 
perfected by Thomas, were explained to Grant. He 
promptly approved them, and ordered their immediate 
execution under General W. F. Smith, who had origin- 
ally devised them. In three days more they had been 
executed, the river line opened, the siege of Chat- 
tanooga raised, and the army again had full supplies. 



452 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

In order to understand this brilliant preliminary move- 
ment, and to pass before the eye the scarceh- paralleled 
battle pageants of the three days' fighting before the 
city, it becomes necessary to study the field. 

Chattanooga at the time of the batde was a city of 
about 4,000 inhabitants. It is on the south bank of the 
Tennessee, and lies in a bend which opens towards the 
south. The eastern and southern outskirts of the city, 
through which ran the Union works, are sufticiendy 
elevated to command the plains and valleys in their front. 
The city, now extended, then stood like the stage of an 
immense theatre from which the wide surroundings of 
plain, the towering mountain, and the long range of 
lower ridees which bounded the area of low country 
were plainly visible. In a southerly direcdon the noted 
headland of Lookout Mountain rises 1,500 feet above 
the river, and though it is two miles and a quarter to its 
base, and a mile farther to the foot of the precipices 
which surround the summit, it seems to dominate both 
the town and the surrounding region. From the point 
of these mountain-walls nearest the city the eye on a 
clear day can look into seven States. This fact, without 
other description, tells of the prominence of this 
mountain monarch. The narrow plateau which forms 
its summit stretches direcdy away from the city, so that 
the sharp point of the range is presented toward the 
town. The precipices which everywhere limit the 
plateau are full a hundred feet in height, and from their 
base the mountain slopes to the plain below are fully a 
mile in descent. 

Standing in the outskirts of the city and looking 
eastward. Missionary Ridge rises 500 feet from the 
plain. It is distant three miles from the city, and fills 
the horizon from a point near the river above the town 




MAI' Ul L-iilCKAMAUGA AND CHATTANOOGA. 



1453) 



454 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT 

to where it seems to join the Lookout Range ten miles 
southerly, about the battle-field of Chickamauga, Half 
way between the eastern side of the city and Mis- 
sionary Ridge are Orchard Knob, Indian Hill and the 
adjacent low ridges, forming a natural strong line 
between the main ridge and the Union works. 

From the northern suburbs of the city it is nearly five 
miles across the plain southeastwardly to the Rossville 
Gap in Missionary Ridge. 

From the western limits of the town the river tiows 
directly toward the base of Lookout, thence sweeping 
under its high bluffs it nearly doubles on itself, until at 
Brown's Ferry, a distance of nine miles from the city, it 
is only four miles across the neck of the bend to Chat- 
tanooga. Opposite the river bluffs of Lookout is Moc- 
casin Point, an elevation of equal height with these 
bluff's, and from its summit the northern slope of the 
mountain is everywhere visible to the base of the pali- 
sades about the top. 

Such is the vast natural amphitheatre within whic4i 
two armies, each in full view of the other, were to fight 
three battles for the mastery of this most important 
stronghold of the central west. 

The timber about the city and in front of the ridges 
had been cut away for the use of the camps, and there 
were few natural objects to obstruct the wide range of 
vision from every point of the opposing lines. The 
commanding features of the whole region were such as 
to add all that nature could give to make the approach- 
ing contest one of the most remarkable in its spectacular 
effects in the annals of war. 



CHAPTER XXVIIl 

THE BATTLE OF LOOKOU'l' MOUNTAIN. 

A series of splendid manoeuvres — Hooker on the Confederate flank — Moves to 
Lookout Mountain — The advance up the heights — Covered by the mists of the 
valley — A wonderful scene in war — The battle above the fogs — The army await 
tidings from the mountain— A season of dread suspense — The messenger of 
victory. 

When Grant reached Chattanooga, the Army of the 
Cumberland occupied the city and the worl<:s in front of 
it. Hooker, with the Eleventh and Tw.elfth corps, was 
at Bridgeport, and along" the railroad toward Nashville. 
Sherman was in the reo^ion of Corinth movine east- 
ward. 

The first step was to open the river and obtain sup- 
plies. It was well conceived and brilliantly executed. 
Hooker crossed at Bridgeport to the south bank of the 
river at daylight of October 27th, and at 3 p. m. had 
reached Wauhatchie Valley, which runs along the west- 
ern base of Lookout. At 3 o'clock the same morning 
fifteen hundred men had entered pontoons at the Chat- 
tanooga landing, and floated quietly under the shadows 
of the northern bank past seven miles of Confederate 
pickets, and, landing at daybreak on the south bank at 
Brown's Ferry, had surprised the enemy's pickets and 
carried the heights which commanded the ferry. A 
brigade, which had marched across the narrow neck 
from the city, was in waitino on the north bank. This 
was ferried over, a bridge was laid, the southern heights 
fortified, and, when Hooker's column arrived in the 

(455) 



45G LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

afternoon, the position was strengthened beyond the 
power of the enemy to retake it. As a result, the river 
was open for suppHes to within four miles of the city, 
and this short gap, as has been seen, was traversed by a 
road within Grant's lines. 

The elation of the Union army at this success, and the 
consequent pouring in of all needed supplies, was in 
itself equal to heavy reinforcements. So marked was 
this feeling that, ten days after opening the river, Gen- 
eral Grant ordered General Thomas to attack the Con- 
federate position on Missionary Ridge, without waiting 
for the arrival of Sherman, who was then at Huntsville. 
It was found, however, that the artillery horses had been 
so reduced that they could not effectively move the bat- 
teries, and the order to attack was countermanded. 

There was corresponding depression in the ranks of 
the enemy. The dissatisfaction with Bragg, even before 
the Union line of supplies had been wrested from him, is 
well shown by the proceedings of a conference of Con- 
federate officers called by President Davis a short time 
before. Mr. Davis had come from Richmond, and 
standing on the point of Lookout and viewing the 
Union army below, had consigned it to certain over- 
throw. He had then called division commanders to- 
gether to soften their opposition to Bragg. His idea 
seems to have been that if he should summon them to 
meet him, and in the presence of General Bragg should 
ask their opinions of his management, that most of them, 
knowing his partiality for their commander, would com- 
mit themselves to an indorsement of his acts. The 
conference met one night at the little white farmhouse 
visible from the city far up on the slope of Lookout, 
and a well-known object to both armies. There were 
present Mr. Davis and General Bragg, with Longstreet, 



7'HE BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -J57 

Cheatham, Buckner, Breckinridcre, A. P. Stewart, and 
Cleburne. The President explained that he had called 
those present together to ascertain their opinions of the 
situation. He therefore desired to hear whether they 
were satisfied with General Bragg as their com- 
mander. It fell to the lot of that blunt soldier, Pat 
Cleburne, as junior officer, to make first reply. He 
answered promptly and plainly, to the great surprise and 
chaorin of the President, that he thougrht General Brao-cr 
had outlived his usefulness and should be removed. 
General Longstreet indorsed this opinion. General 
Buckner followed to the same effect in equally emphatic 
language, and all in turn expressed similar views. Mr. 
Davis adjourned the conference in haste, greatly discon- 
certed that his plan of overawing the subordinate gen- 
erals had signally failed. Soon after Longstreet was 
sent to East Tennessee, Buckner was ordered else- 
where, and Mr. Davis was from that time the enemv ot 
Cleburne, and a few months later found a pretext for 
severely denouncing him when, at Dalton, General 
Cleburne proposed a plan of freeing all able-bodied 
slaves and enrolling them in the army. The above ac- 
count of the conference on Lookout is given on the au- 
thority of one of the most prominent officers present. 
Such discontent, existing before the passage of the river 
had been forced, furnishes a standard by which to meas- 
ure the dissatisfaction which followed the opening of this 
Union line of abundant supplies. 

Still the Confederate officers did not dream that their 
own position, which they might well deem impregnable, 
was in any danger. They only saw that the starvation 
of the Union army, which they had confidently looked 
for, would not occur, and that it would not be obliged to 
evacuate the place for want of supplies, in which case 



458 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

they had regarded its overthrow among the mountains 
as certain. They saw also that, to dislodge the Union 
army and regain Chattanooga, it would become neces- 
sary to assault the strong works of the place. It is not 
strange that Bragg and his officers regarded their posi- 
tion as safe against assault. Lookout Mountain was 
held by two divisions. Its summit could not be scaled, 
for its continuous walls of palisades assured its safety. 
The long slopes of the mountain were tangled with 
standing and fallen timber, strewn with immense boul- 
ders, and with masses of the overhanging ledges. 
Through these rocks and forest obstructions lines of field- 
works had been constructed half way up the mountain, 
which was of itself a most formidable obstacle to a 
storming party even without its artificial defences. 
Heavy lines of field-works stretched eastward across 
the valley from the base of Lookout to Missionary 
Ridofe, and thence alon^- the foot of the rid^e to its 
northern extremity near the river. It was twelve miles 
from the left ot the Confederate works on the mountain 
through the line just indicated to the Confederate right. 
From this right the summit of the ridge was occupied 
southerly to the Rossville Gap, a distance of seven 
miles. The ridL>e was fortified alone its entire summit, 
and a line of rifle-pits ran along its face midway between 
the works at the base and those alonof the crest. Half 
way between Missionary Ridge and the city the Con- 
federates had established a strong advanced line of 
field-works two miles in length. Its left rested strongly 
on Orchard Knob and Indian Hill, points already men- 
tioned, rising about a hundred feet from the plain. Its 
right was well established behind Citico creek, a stream 
which afforded excellent field defence. To defend his 
position Bragg had forty-five thousand fighting men. 



THE BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTALN. 459 

Such were the works which confronted the Union army, 
and which General Grant proposed to take. 

For his purposes he had available the Army of the 
Cumberland under General George H. Thomas, which 
occupied the city. General Hooker, with the Eleventh 
and Twelfth corps, held Wauhatchie Valley along- the 
western base of Lookout, and the river about Brown's 
Ferry and back to Bridgeport. General Sherman, with 
the Fifteenth corps, was in march in rear of Hooker. 
The troops of the latter were attached to the Army of 
the Cumberland. The total of Grant's effecdve force 
was slightly over 60,000 men. 

The first plan of battle involved as one of the early 
moves an assault by Hooker on the northern slope of 
Lookout, but this was changed upon the discovery that 
the extremity of Missionary Ridge nearest the river was 
not occupied by the enemy in force. 

It was then finally decided that Hooker should remain 
in Wauhatchie Valley and liold the enemy in check on 
that flank, while Sherman on arrival should cross the 
river to the north bank and march by roads concealed 
from the view of the enemy on Lookout to North Chick- 
amauga creek, which emptied into the Tennessee nearly 
opposite the northern spur of Missionary Ridge. 

From this point Sherman was to cross the river in 
pontoons before daylight, seize the northern extremity 
of the ridge and carry it thence as far as the railroad tun- 
nel. The Army of the Cumberland was then to concen- 
trate on its left and connect with Sherman, and, to^rether 
these forces were to move southward along the ridge 
through Chattanooga valley and sweep Bragg from 
his position. 

The attack, according to this plan, was ordered for 
Saturday, November 21st. Storms, heavy roads and 



460 LIFE' OF GENERAL GRANT. 

successive breakings of the bridge at Brown's Ferry pre- 
vented General Sherman from reaching position at North 
Chickamauga until the evening of the 23d. This neces- 
sitated two postponements of the order for attack. It 
also led to successive modifications of the plan of battle, re- 
sulting at last in a complete change of the original plan. 

In prompt adaptation to the rapidly changing features 
of the situation is found one of the chief secrets of 
Grant's success. The first day's battle resulted from a 
reconnoissance to ascertain the truth of a report that 
Bragg was withdrawing. For this purpose General 
Thomas was ordered to move out of his works in front 
of the city. He had become exceedingly anxious lest 
the long delay after the order of battle was announced 
should result in giving the enemy some knowledge of 
the plan. He therefore determined to move with a force 
that should impress Bragg with the idea that a battle had 
begun. In fact, the move did open the battle. JMoving 
Sheridan's and Wood's divisions out into the plain in 
front of the eastern fortifications of the city, he deployed 
them toward Orchard Knob, facing the enemy's field 
works, which ran as described midway between the 
Union line and Missionary Ridge. Howard's corps, 
which had been marched from Hooker's camp over the 
bridge and into the town, to give the impression that 
Sherman's troops crossing there were reinforcing the 
city, was formed in rear of the left, and Baird's division 
of the Army of the Cumberland in rear of the right. 

The deployment was so quiet a movement that the 
enemy mistook it for a grand review. The Confederate 
pickets leaned lazily on their muskets enjoying the scene. 
The enemy's works on the heights were crowned with 
spectators of this inijiosing parade ot 20,000 soldiers 
formed in full \ie\v on the plain. It was not until a 



THE BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. 4G1 

skirmish line was suddenly thrown out from the fronts 
of its solid divisions and advanced firing, followed by the 
swift march of the whole mass, that the illusion was dis- 
pelled, and the mighty array revealed itself as a thun- 
derbolt of war. With resisdess force it smote along 
outposts and advanced lines, and with scarcely a break 
in its magnificent lines it entered the works on the Knob 
and through the plain. The enemy fought with cour- 
age, but its detached forces could not hold back an army. 
General Grant was delighted with his introduction to the 
Army of the Cumberland in fighting trim, and, telegraph- 
ing to Halleck of the result, he said ; " The troops moved 
under fire with all the precision of veterans on parade." 
Two days later, and on a larger scale, he saw the same 
soldiers move triumphantly over the plain, with army 
front and never wavering lines and solid ranks, against 
the heights of Missionary Ridge. This first day's battle 
gave possession of the enemy's only advanced line be- 
tween the foot of the ridge and the city. It was two 
miles in length, and during the night the Union troops 
reversed it, protected it with artillery and made its re- 
capture impossible. It was a brilliant opening of the 
series of battles, and, though it involved less fighdng than 
the days which followed, it was in itself not only an im- 
posing spectacle but a success of vast importance. 

Next in the wonderful succession of battle-scenes 
came Hooker's assault on Lookout Mountain. 

The bridge at Brown's having broken again, and left 
Osterhaus' division of Sherman's troops on the south 
bank with Hooker, General Thomas obtained consent 
from General Grant to make a demonstration against 
Lookout. This was the second sharp departure from 
the original plan. The movement was ordered for the 
early morning of the 24th of November. 



462 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

At that time Sherman was crossing at North Chick- 
amauo-a. Soon alter midnight one hundred and sixteen 
pontoons filled with his troops had floated silendy and 
undiscovered out of the mouth of the creek and pulled 
swiftly to the south bank of the Tennessee. The enemy's 
pickets were surprised and the landing followed rapidly. 
At daylight two divisions were over and the works to 
defend the bridge were well advanced. 

Standing at any point of the Union lines and looking 
southerly, the slopes of Lookout below the points of the 
mountain were in full sight. A narrow road led over 
these slopes above the river bluffs and descended on the 
western side into the valley where Hooker lay. The 
Confederate works were across the road, facing Hooker's 
position, and extended from the river to the palisades at 
the summit of the mountain a mile above. In rear of 
the line of works was a farm clearing, which later in the 
day revealed the battle on the mountain to the armies 
about the city. 

Sherman had crossed on the other flank at a point 
thirteen miles away, and soon had two divisions deployed 
toward Bracre's rioht on Missionary Ridcre. The enemy's 
attention was intently fixed on this threatening move- 
ment, when suddenly the sound of battle under the fogs 
which hung over the mountain drew universal attention 
to Lookout. 

Hooker, under cover of the mist, had directed one 
column a mile up the valley, and there, turning directly 
against the mountain, had marched in flank till his troops 
reached the base of the palisades above ; then facing 
toward the point of the mountain and moving northward 
his line swept the western slope from the precipices 
above to the base. In the meantime another column 
well supplied with artillery was pushed close to the main 




(4(i3j 



464 LJFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

line of Confederate works, which faced the valley, from 
which the Union lines had started. The heavy guns on 
Moccasin Point, which looked from the north side of the 
river upward along the northern slope of the mountain, 
were manned and waited only for the opening guns of 
Hooker's advance. 

The line from Wauhatchie Valley moved against the 
front of the Confederate works and sharply enga^-ed the 
enemy. The guns 'from Moccasin Point partially enfi- 
laded the Confederate right, and, as the contest became 
warm, Hooker's line moving along the western slope 
crushed the enemy's left flank, and with the aid of the 
troops from the valley and the effective fire from the bat- 
teries across the river, the enemy was driven out of his 
works and pushed backward around the point of the 
mountain and into full view from the city and the plains 
in front of it. All eyes in each army had long been 
intently fixed on the mountain, in an attempt to fathom 
the mysteries of battle which were shrouded in its fogs. 
Suddenly the mists lifted and the Union line, reaching 
from base to summit, was seen sweeping into view from 
the western side of the mountain. The Confederate 
line faced it, but was steadily retiring under the advance 
of Hooker's ten thousand men and the effective shellinor 
from Bran nan's batteries on Moccasin Point. 

At this sight, which language cannot paint, the Union 
army broke into unceasinof cheers. Its bands, with one 
accord, burst into music, and, under this wonderful in- 
spiration of cheering thousands and the martial music 
of a great army, those heroes on the mountain, respond- 
ing with shouting that rose above the roar of their 
rifles, fought on and on till the slopes of the mighty 
mountain were recovered. 

The summit was inaccessible on account of the pali- 



THE BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. 465 

sades. The defending force was six brigades. The 
shelter of works, and of rocks and woods was so great 
that, judged by the standard of killed and wounded, the 
affair scarcely arose to the dignity of a battle. But the 
ground made the success achieved seem almost in- 
credible, and gave the full importance of a batde to the 
brilliant result. It was not a "batde above the clouds," 
as fiction relates, but a battle above the fogs. 

That night the enemy withdrew from the summit of 
the mountain and took position on Missionary Ridge 
near Rossville. 

In the afternoon, while Hooker was completing his 
victory on the mountain, Sherman had advanced and 
carried what had been supposed to be the northern ex- 
tremity of Missionary Ridge, but finding that he had not 
reached the desired point, he was obliged to wait until 
the next morning to execute his appointed part of the 
plan. 



2K 



CHAPTER XXIX 

SWEEPING MISSIONARY RIDGE. 

The messenger of victory — Shifting the Confederate forces — Opening of the last 
day's fight — The Federal dispositions — Grant and his generals on Orchard Knob 
— Sherman's terrific charges — The general assault — Climbing the ridge — An in- 
spiring spectacle — Success. 

The third and closing day of the prolonged battle- 
spectacle broke clear and calm. The camps of both 
armies along the many miles of their fronts were astir 
at dawn. All eyes turned upon Lookout. It was not 
known as yet on the Union side, and to only a few of the 
enemy, which army held the summit, and there was in- 
tense anxiety to ascertain this fact. r'"',e whole mountain 
stood clearly cut against the sky, but the strongest 
olasses could detect no siim of life alonqr the summit. 
Just as the sunlight touched the highest point a small 
squad of soldiers appeared there. Two armies gazed 
intently with bated breath to see what signal of triumph 
or defeat this handful of men would display. As these 
thousands looked, one bearing the stars and stripes 
stepped out on the edge of the palisades and, showing 
its colors, waved news of victory to the Union lines and 
tidings of defeat to the enemy. Fully si.xty thousand 
men widi one accord broke into cheers, all the bands 
saluted and played on, and everywhere the cheeks of 
veterans were wet with glad tears as they welcomed the 
flag on the top of Lookout. 

From cheers and music, enthused and nerved by both, 
the Union army turned to the stern work of the day. 

(466) 



SWEEPING MISSIONARY RIDGE. -iG? 

The two clays' operations greatly simplified the situa- 
tion. During- the last night the six Confederate brigades 
which had held Lookout withdrew throus^h Chattanoo"fa 
Valley to Missionary Ridge, near Rossville. With them 
went some other forces in the valley, and at sunrise 
Bragg's whole army was concentrated on Missionary 
Ridge and in the field-works at its base, his line being 
something over six miles in length. 

Hooker follow^ed the line of Confederate retreat from 
the mountain, rebuilding bridges which had been de- 
stroyed, and, driving the enemy from the works about 




i£f^8-4^ 






*-^- 



- >?''/'^*iJj^~ "^ 



MISSIONARY RIDGE FROM THE CEMETERY AT CHATTANOOGA. 

Rossville Gap, he established himself across Missionary 
Ridge, threatening Bragg's left. 

Sherman had moved to the assault of Bragg's right 
soon after daylight. The day before, as has been seen, 
he had carried what, until he occupied it, had been sup- 
posed to be the north extremity of the continuous ridge. 
But on reaching it, the discovery was made that a deep 
valley separated this detached elevation from the main 
ridee, on which Braofir had established and strongly for- 
tified his right. 

It was therefore impossible for Sherman to push his 
line down to the tunnel, as was contemplated in the order 



468 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of battle, and he was forced to wait till daylight before 
he could advance further. He moved early and with 
great vigor. His lines descended to the valley which 
lay between them and the enemy, and swarmed up the 
opposite slope with the utmost courage. Under a mur- 
derous fire these veterans forced their way to within a 
hundred yards of the works on the crest and established 
themselves. From this point, as a key, the day was 
spent in a series of most heroic but unsuccessful charges. 

Bragg's forces not only held the northern point of the 
ridge, but there were cross ridges of sufficient length to 
enable the massing of heavy forces behind the strong 
works which crowned them, making the position practi- 
cally impregnable from Sherman's front. 

This desperate and unsuccessful fighting about the 
point which Grant still held to be the pivot of the plan 
of battle for the day, could be plainly seen from the cen- 
tre, where Grant, Thomas, Sheridan and Granger were 
gathered with their staffs. This noted company, grouped 
around the commander and leader, had early taken po- 
sition on Orchard Knob, which commanded a view of 
the entire Confederate line. Four divisions of the Army 
of the Cumberland lay in the works which ran through 
Orchard Knob. Here they faced the Ridge, which was 
a mile and a quarter from their front. Three brigades, 
equalling one division of this army, were with Hooker, 
another division had crossed with Sherman, and the entire 
Eleventh corps had also been sent to him. 

At 2 o'clock six of the thirteen divisions on the field 
were operating with Sherman, and at that hour baird was 
ordered to join him from Thomas' left. But Sherman 
sent word that he did not need more troops, and Baird 
returned to his position. It was then 3 o'clock. Sher- 
man's desperate fighting had failed to move Bragg's 



DIAGRAM I. 





CAVALRY, le 






DIAGRAMS SHOWING THE POSITIONS OF THE ARMIES AT THE BAl 1 
OF MISSIONARY RIDclF.. 

(469) 



470 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

riofht. Hooker's o-uns were not advancinor alone' the 
Ridge on the enemy's left. The sun was sinking toward 
the western ranges, and the day was passing without 
final result. 

Grant, therefore, quick to grasp the situation, changed 
his plan of battle for the third time, and ordered Thomas 
to move his divisions directly against Missionary Ridge. 
These troops stood in line with a front of two miles and 
a half, and about a mile and a quarter from the base of 
the range. Johnson was on the right, Sheridan and 
Wood held the centre, and Baird the left. 

Bragg had fifty guns on the summit, and men enough 
to fill the rifle-pits at the base and to line the crest. 
Grant's directions to Thomas were to move his whole 
force against the works at the base of the Ridge, and, 
when carried, to reform his lines in them with a view to 
carrying the top. The orders from General Thomas 
which reached the left of the line, were that the move- 
ment was preparatory to a general assault on the Ridge, 
and that if the columns were pushed to the summit it 
would be following his wishes. The signal for the move- 
ment was to be six guns from Orchard Knob. 

Under the inspiration of two days' successes, and the 
nu^rning salute of the army to the flag on Lookout, and 
chafing under the sight of Sherman's oft-repeated but 
fruitless assaults, these four divisions sprang forward at 
the signal along their entire front with an irresistible 
force. By a gradual deployment as the columns moved, 
twenty thousand men in four lines, covered by a cloud 
of skirmishers, rushed at double-quick across the plain, 
covering in their advance three miles of the crest. Fifty 
guns rained shell upon them from the summit, and 
sheeted musketry flamed in their faces as they ap- 
proached the works at the base. But no earthly power 



SWEEPING MISSIONARY RIDGE. 471 

could stop those veterans, and the rifle-pits were carried 
throughout their extent, even before the second hues 
could reach them. There was no need of halting- to re- 
form, for the Union lines were still unbroken, and only 
checking a moment to take breath after their long run 
over the plain, the left centre and the left began to storm 
the Ridge. The rest of the line, having understood the 
order to be for a definite halt in the first line of works, 
stopped for a few moments, and then, following the con- 
tagious example on their left, also pushed on toward tiie 
summit. The Confederates from the lower lines swarmed 
up in advance of the Union troops, but were followed so 
closely as scarcely to allow a halt in the second line of 
rifle-pits which were established along the face of the 
Ridge half way to the top. 

The rush over the rocks, and the tangled and broken 
surface of tlie mountain, disarranged the storming lines, 
but it seemed to be the purpose of every man to be the 
first in the works above. The rally about the flags, 
which were the constant marks of riflemen on the crest, 
and the rushing forward of new men to grasp them 
as color-bearer after color-bearer went down, gave a 
wedge-shaped formation to every regiment. To those 
who looked from the rear, the face of the Ridge for 
miles was covered with these wedges of men, each point 
marked with a flag, and each, driven by the ponderous 
hammers of the battle, was cleaving a path to the smok- 
incr summit. 

All points about the city were crowded with spectators 
of the wonderful assault. Grant and Thomas, with 
many staff officers, looked on from Orchard Knob. 
The heavy works about the city were dotted with artil- 
lerists whose fire had ceased as the Union line ap- 
proached the Confederate works. Sherman's men were 



472 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

temporarily resting from assault on the left. The sky 
was clear and every object stood out sharply defined 
over the wide-extended field. Save where that storming 
army was climbing into the face of the guns, the quiet 
of a beautiful autumn day rested everywhere. The 
recent imposing sweep of those solid lines over the plain, 
and under heavy fire, seemed but the commonplace of 
battle compared with the courage of the final assault. 
At no point in the long front was there either faltering 
or serious check. In spite of the direct fire of many 
guns, and the enfilading sweep of others pushed out on 
spurs which served as natural bastions for the curtains 
of the summit, the four divisions reached the crest to- 
gether. Grant and Thomas counted six places where 
the flags appeared simultaneously in the upper works. 
Forty field guns were captured, with several thousand 
prisoners. The grandest storming party of the war had 
brought final victory. 

The broken and fleeing enemy were pursued beyond 
Ringgold, and finally took position behind Rocky Face at 
Dalton, and there awaited the opening of the Atlanta 
campaign. 



I 



CHAPTER XXX. 

GENERAL CHEATHAM's NARRATIVE. 

A graphic recital of a picturesqua battle — Bragg's mistake — The Famous Council 
of War — Too much State pride — Sending Longstreet away — The battle of Look- 
out Mountain — A small afiair — Bringing the troops oft" the ridge — Preparing for 
the battle — A grand military display — Sherman's assault — Thomas' final victory 
— The " Perilous Ridge of Mission." 

Perhaps the only battle of the late war that was visi- 
ble to every man in the contending forces was that of 
Missionary Ridge. The Union story of the spectacle 
is well told in the three preceding chapters by General 
H. V. Boynton. He then held a command in General 
Thomas' army, and looked upon the brilliant scene 
and was an actor in it. Since the war he has become a 
writer of note, and he has called upon his best powers 
of description in making a pen picture of the great 
battle he saw and heard. Such a narrative, from such 
a source, has a fitting companion in the counter story 
which is here told by General B. F. Cheatham, that 
sterlino- old warrior who was such a striking fieure in the 
Confederate camp and upon nearly eveiy hard-fought 
batde-field of the West. 

"The battle of Missionary Ridge was one of the most 
picturesque combats ever witnessed," sayg General 
Cheatham, in speaking of that memorable engagement. 
" There were no back seats in that fight. Every^ man 
who was there on either side saw it all. On this account 
more fiction has been written about it than about all the 
other engagements of the war combined. 

"The combat of Lookout Mountain, which preceded 
it, was an insignificant affair, yet it has passed into his- 

(473) 



474 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

tory as one of the most famous battles of the late war. 
To the Federals in the valley no doubt it was quite 
a stirring scene, full of dramatic effects. The sight of 
the soldiers contendino- above the foo-s was a sinLTular 
spectacle to those who watched it from far below. 
The Confederate position, both at Lookout and at 
Missionary Ridge, was a very elevated one, and military 
movements on either side could be seen with great 
distinctness. Therefore, the operations seemed more 
important to the average soldier than greater contests 
on other fields where the movements of troops were 
more or less obstructed. 

"For many reasons, then, the battles about which you 
are asking me to speak have become memorable. In 
the first place, the occupadon of Mission Ridge was 
one of the worst military blunders ever committed. 
After Bragg had won the battle of Chickamauga, unless 
he intended to follow up his advantage and crush the 
Federal army, he should have returned to Dalton, or 
some point to the south of him, and prepared for a llank 
movement, or some other campaign, rather than that of 
settling down to the ridges about a town he had previ- 
ously evacuated. 

" In moving back towards Chattanooga after the 
battle of Chickamauga, I marched in front by the Shal- 
low Ford Road, while IMcLaws' division of Longstreet's 
corps took the Rossville Pike. I reached the position 
on Missionary Ridge without encountering any resist- 
ance of importance. A little affair on the top of the 
mountain, where two of our brigades brushed the enemy 
away, was all the obstacle encountered. It was the 
expectation of our army that in returning to Chatta- 
nooga we were to simply bivouac for the night, and then 
give battle for the possession of the town ; but instead of 



GENERAL CHEATHAM'S NARRATIIE. 475 

that we settled down and allowed the enemy to recruit 
his shattered battalions and bring- in reinforcements, and 
then beat us in detail when he got ready. 

" ^^'i&&' '^ looking down upon the Federal forces, 
seemed to imagine that they would wait there until they 
were starved into surrender. I never took any such 
view of the situation and so told him. We were greatly 
dissatisfied with this state of things, and with Bragg's 
failure to follow up the defeat at Chickamauga and 
crush Rosecrans' army. This discontent was so strong 
and universal that Mr. Davis came on from Richmond 
to visit our army, and look over the situation. He was 
not very happy or successful in his efforts to bring about 
cordial relations between Bragg and his generals. 

'' In the little house on the top of the mountain where 
headquarters were located, near which stands the famous 
big tree, Mr. Davis called a council of war. Both house 
and tree are familiar and historic objects to this day. 
All the leading generals of the army were called into 
council. General Bragg was present. After some pre- 
liminaries we were asked for our opinions as to the 
feeling of the army towards General Bragg. Also our 
judgment as to his efficiency. It was a very tr}'ing posi- 
tion to be placed in, but I gave it as my judgment that 
he did not have the confidence of the army and should 
be retired for some man who had. I think every general 
at the council expressed himself with more or less decis- 
ion in the same direction. Longstreet, Buckner, Breck- 
inridge and Cleburne I am certain did. As may readily 
be imagined, the conference was a very cold affair, and 
soon broke up after this expression of opinion. The- 
propriety of asking our opinion of our superior officer 
while he was present, was, at least, questionable. 

"Shortly after that Bragg discovered that my command, 



476 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

composed of some eight thousand Tennesseeans, was 
developing too much State pride at the expense of the 
Confederacy, and he broke it up and scattered five 
brigades through the army. Governor Porter, who was 
then my chief of staff, and myself after that had a leave 
of absence, and went South for a rest and to recruit. 

"About the time we went away Longstreet's corps was 
detached and sent up to East Tennessee to destroy 
Burnside, Bragg's plan evidently being to wipe Burnside 
out, then return Longstreet's force to Missionary Ridge 
and fight at his leisure or starve the Federals into sur- 
render. During the precious time he thus wasted I 
was South, and only returned to my command the 
day before the battle. While myself and chief of 
staff were on our way to my position, we were met 
by one of General Bragg's staff officers, who asked us 
to come immediately to his headquarters. We went, 
and found him in a very dismal and disturbed state of 
mind. He seemed much disheartened, for information 
had been brought to him that Hooker had destro)ed the 
brigades over on Lookout Mountain, and that Stevenson, 
who occupied a still more elevated position this side on 
the summit, was also in danger of capture by the enemy, 
if he had not already been cut off. He asked me to go 
and look over the situation, and do what was possible 
in what he believed to be the crisis. He sent General 
Breckinridge with me. 

" Lookout Mountain was held by three brigades — one 
commanded by General Walthal, of Mississippi, now 
United States Senator ; one by General Moore, and 
.another by General John K. Jackson, of Georgia. Ste- 
venson's division of three more brigades was this side 
of Lookout, on the summit of the mountain, and when I 
got over there I found out that they had not been en- 



GENERAL CHEATHAM'S NARRATIVE. 477 

gaged at all, and were in no danger whatever. The 
batde of Lookout Mountain, therefore, was confined to 
Hooker's assault upon the three brigades first mentioned, 
and its only result was to retire them beyond the face of 
Lookout and to capture about eight hundred of Wal- 
thal's brigade without fault on the part of that gallant 
soldier. The officer who commanded the right had been 
careless and had allowed Hooker to get in on his flank. 

" Before we arrived, Walthal had made his position 
secure, but to test the matter Canty's brigade was put 
in on the right and the entire force pushed forward. 
Hooker was driven behind the point of Lookout Moun- 
tain, and we withdrew our forces at leisure and started 
them down to Missionary Ridge. At the same time 
Stevenson's command was withdrawn from the summit, 
the bridges across Lookout Creek were destroyed, and 
we took our posidon on the Ridge. This is all there 
was of the battle of Lookout. 

" When this had been accomplished it was not too late 
for Bragg to have repaired the blunder he had made in 
occupying his present posidon. If then he had with- 
drawn his command and gone back to Georgia, as he 
did after the batde the next day, he would have saved 
his army from defeat, and have been in condition to ac- 
complish something. Every one else seemed to see 
this situation but Bragg, who was acdng entirely on his 
own judgment. 

"We perfectly well knew that Grant was there with 
plenty of supplies and heavy reinforcements with Sher- 
man at their head, and was ready to attack in the morn- 
ing. Nearly every day that our forces rested there we 
were getting weaker, while Grant was getting stronger. 
Longstreet was away in East Tennessee, and we were 
In no condition either to give or to stand batde, and it 



478 LIFE OF GEI^ERAL GRANT. 

was a surprise to cver\' one that Bragg should have 
waited for an engagement there, as but one result could 
be counted upon. 

"The story of the battle of Missionar)- Ridge, which 
occurred the day following my experience on Lookout, 
can be easily told. As I said before, it was all under the 
eye. On one of those peculiarly bright, pleasant days, 
when the atmosphere is rare and objects seem much 
nearer than they really are it was fought. Hardee's 
corps occupied the right of the line, composed of Cle- 
burne's and my divisions. A. P. Stewart's corps was 
immediately on my left and Breckinridge was with him. 
Bragg's dispositions for the battle were bad. Contrary' 
to all military rules for he had posted far below the 
main force a strong picket force, with instructions not 
to yield except to a line of battle. When the Federals 
advanced they came, of course, in regular battle array. 
Our skirmish line could make no impression upon them, 
and when the shock came had as much difficultv in cret- 
ting back to us as the Federals had in getting up to us. 
This blunder cost us many men in killed, wounded and 
captured. 

"As I said before, the morning was briehtand beauti- 
ful, and the movements of the Federal troops in the 
valley made a magnificent scene. Their colors were 
(lying, bands playing and muskets gleaming. The men 
were manoeuvred as though going out for inspection and 
moved with spirit and style as though on review. E\cry 
motion of the troops could be seen. As they advanced 
to the attack the* color of their eyes and hair, and almost 
the expressions of their countenances, could be discerned. 

" Grant's first stroke was to move out his forces, and 
seize one or two important points for his artillery. He 
first advanced Sherman to attack our right, where Cle- 



GENERAL CHEATHAM'S NARRATIVE. 479 

burne was posted. Never before did I witness such a 
magnificent military display as Sherman's advance that 
day. The men were in perfect condition, and went to 
their work with the precision of a well-ordered machine, 
and with all the pomp, show and glare of an admirably- 
equipped army. The fiction that this movement on the 
morning of the battle was thought by us to be a grand 
review is amusing. No officer who knew anything of 
war stood on that ridge and looked down upon that 
array of soldiers advancing towards us without fully 
understanding that combat was intended. 

" Bragg, as he observed that the right was to be 
assaulted, instantly transferred a large part of his force 
to Cleburne, so that by the time Sherman made his rush 
up the ascent Cleburne was commanding about half of 
our whole force. Porter, my chief of staff, with a 
field glass watching our artillery fire against Sherman's 
advancino- column, cried out to me: 

" ' General, when a shot ploughs through their lines it 
closes up again just as a gate flies to upon its hinges ! ' 

"Sherman's assault was splendidly planned and most 
vigorously made, but time and again it failed. He could 
only get so far, and then his troops recoiled under the 
terrific fire from Cleburne's force and the difficulty of 
reaching his position. My command was near the centre, 
and all this passed before my eyes as plainly as I ever 
saw anything in my life. 

" While Sherman was opening the fight and failing to 
make any impression upon Cleburne, Thomas lay 
directly in front of us in the valley, with his army corps 
ready for the spring. At last, finding that Sherman 
could not disturb Cleburne, Thomas was put in motion 
and came forward to attack Stewart on my left. He 
came as Sherman did, in splendid order, his onset being 



480 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

surrounded by all the magnificent military' stymie which 
so characterized Sherman's advance. He struck Deas' 
Alabama brigade, which broke before his assault. The 
whole left of our line, which had been weakened to resist 
Sherman's attack, melted away under Thomas' assault, 
and before the sun went down the battle of Missionary 
Ridge w^as practically over. 

" Bragg first withdrew the left of the line and started 
it towards Georgia, instructing Hardee to withdraw Cle- 
burne as soon as possible. Finally, when Stewart and 
Breckinridge were well under way, Cleburne was with- 
drawn, leaving my command of less than 5000 men to 
hold on and move away under cover of the darkness. 
I changed the front of my division on the ridge, which 
compelled the Federals to change their line of battle. 
Two or three times they made unsuccessful attempts 
to drive us off. I was so situated upon a high ridge 
that they could not flank me, and the ascent was too 
steep and difficult for the men to climb. Two or 
three times I made an effort to drive them off, and then 
they would try to drive me off. So the combat con- 
tinued back and forth for some time. 

"I only had Walthal's Mississippi, Moore's Alabama 
and Vaughan's Tennessee brigades with me. There 
were five o-eneral officers in that little knot to command 
those three brigades, from Hardee, who was Lieutenant- 
General, down to the brigadiers. We held our position 
until darkness came on and made it possible for us to 
retire at our leisure. 

" The withdrawal of my command ended the battle of 
Missionary Ridge. We marched back to Chickamauga 
Station that night and bivouacked, and the next morning 
started for Dalton, Ga., where we remained for the rest 
of the winter." 



CHAPTER XXXL 

CHATTANOOGA TO WASHINGTON. 

After Chattanooga — Political Generals — Grant's popularity in tlie country — The 
temptation of the Presidency — The relief of Knoxvillc — The Meridian raid- 
Made Lieutenant-General — The correspondence between Grant and Sherman- 
Grant's arrival in Washington. 

The successes about Chattanooga made the anti-cHmax 
in General Grant's career. They centered the gaze of the 
country upon him to a greater degree than ever before. 
They were an evidence of his comprehensive judgment that 
was eminently effective. Against the disfavor of the 
authorities, in the face of what seemed certain defeat, he 
had, by the exercise of the calm yet venturesome sagacity 
which now became recognized as the spirit of his opera- 
tions, turned humiliation into exultation, and depression 
into the ereatest enthusiasm. And, when this was 
followed by the relief of Knoxville and the extension 
of the line of operations under Sherman towards Mobile, 
the confidence of the nation in his military genius became 
general and determined. 

It was at this time that he was offered an opportunity 
to show the singleness of purpose which \vas the distin- 
guishing characteristic of his life. He had always been 
ready to act immediately upon the orders of his supe- 
riors. When they tended to humiliate him he was quiedy 
indifferent to the intent. Apparendy his pride could be 
neither hurt nor inflated. It was of the honest, manly 
sort which concentrated itself upon his duties, and if he 
felt satisfied with himself that was enough for him. Ficti- 
tious and ephemeral slights did not in the least ruffle his 
2F 481 



482 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

placid equanimity. He tried to mould things as seemed 
to him best, and was content to leave the results to the 
judgments of time. 

He had always felt a contempt for " political Generals." 
His experience in the army had taught him that the pos- 
session of poHtical inthience did not carry military sagacity 
with it. He believed that promotion should be obtained 
by hovering about the enemy instead of about Washing- 
ton. He felt that a man could not be a soldier and a 
politician at the same time. Before the country lay the 
gigantic task of subduing a gigantic enemy. To this task 
must be brought all the alertness, sagacity, patience and 
concentration of which those in chargeof the armies were 
capable. A modification of plan, or a hesitancy, of action, 
for the purpose of catching the fleeting popular senti- 
ment of a people who were primarily ignorant of war, he 
knew would be dangerous, if not fatal. He had seen the 
bad effects of such a course in the past, and he was very 
impatient of it. He believed that both eyes should be 
concentrated on the work to be done. He knew that it 
could not be done well if one eye only was on the foe 
while the other was turned in anxious gaze for the ap- 
plause of the galleries. 

Nevertheless, after Chattanooga, his nanie became very 
frequently mentioned in connection with the Republican 
nomination for the Presidency. The enemies of Mr. 
Lincoln did not want him renominated, but they knew 
that some man must be chosen who had been closely 
connected with the crreat struijijle, and in whom the 
country trusted. The only man fit for their purpose was 
Grant, and toward him they turned with their offering. 
It did not cross their minds that he would refuse 
to be the tool of their dislikes and ambitions. The 
reward offered was glittering enough to dazzle the eyes 



CHATTANOOGA TO WASHINGTON. 48S 

of any man, and it seemed incredible that a soldier who 
had almost risen from the ranks should decline it. Yet 
decline it he did, and in a way so quiet and determined that 
they saw he could not be used for their purposes. Tersely 
and strongly he wrote to Admiral Ammen the remark- 
able letter here produced mfac simile. In it he said : " I 
have always thought the most slavish life any man could 
lead was that of a politician. Besides, I do not believe 
that any man can be successful as a soldier while he has 
an anchor ahead for other advancement. . . . My only 
desire will be, as it always has been, to whip out the 
rebellion in the shortest way possible." This was straight 
and to the point, and it was meant. The cabal was forced 
to look for another candidate. Grant would not be their 
weapon. 

This was written three weeks before Grant was called 
to the national capital to become the legitimate successor 
of Washington as Lieutenant-General of the army. While 
the plotting had been going on he had been quietly en- 
gaged in following up the victory at Chattanooga and in 
finishing up his campaign in the clean, thorough way 
characteristic of him. Burnside was penned in Knoxville 
and Longstreet was besieging him. The army of invest- 
ment was confident and the national soldiers, while main- 
taininof an intelliofent and courageous defense, felt that 
without succor they must succumb. Grant's first care 
after the defeat of Bragg was to save Burnside, and three 
columns were ordered to the rescue. Sherman had 
charge of the main column, and although his soldiers were 
worn out with much fighting and marching he pushed 
them forward with his nervous characteristic energy. 
One of Grant's dispatches containing information of the 
expedition of relief had been purposely allowed to fall 
into the hands of the enemy, and Loncstreet determined 



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490 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

upon a last assault before assistance could arrive. He 
had received news of the defeat of Bragg, and he knew 
that everything depended upon immediate action since 
he could no longer maintain himself in the valley. He 
made the assault, but was repelled with great loss, and 
by December the fourth he was in full retreat. By the 
time Sherman reached Knoxville the lines of investment 
were broken and the siege was raised. Eastern Ten- 
nessee was in the hands of the national forces. During 
the three months which followed the batde of Mission- 
ary Ridge, the terms of enlistment of thousands of the 
soldiers expired. The thirty days' leave of absence al- 
lowed them so depleted the corps that no active opera- 
tions of any extent could be conducted. Therefore, Grant 
was obliged to content himself with the Spring cam- 
paign, and making a few feeling advances here and there. 
On February 19th President Lincoln declared a day of 
national thanksgiving. Ten days later Congress voted 
General Grant a resolution of thanks, and a gold medal 
was struck commemorating his services. In February 
the Meridian raid, under Sherman, was made almost into 
the heart of the hosdle country and much damage done. 
Thomas, at the same time, was making reconnoisance 
towards Dalton, where the Confederate army was in 
winter quarters, with General Joseph E. Johnston in com- 
mand. Thomas' movement was a sort of feeler for the 
Spring campaign and Sherman's movement was to clear 
Mississippi and West Tennessee of small detachments of 
the enemy's troops, and to destroy lines of communica- 
tion and resources of war. This closed General Grant's 
immediate supervision of the armies of the Southwest. 
At Nashville, just before being called to Washington, he 
wrote the following characteristic letter to his friend, 
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498 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The story of his campaigns from Belmont to Knoxville 
is one of continual hardship, unexampled patience, 
splendid self-confidence and complete success. They 
convinced the nation that he was the supreme military 
crenius of the war. The bill reviving the grade of Lieu- 
tenant-General was passed on the 27th of February, 
1864, after much discussion, and the natural sequence 
was the appointment of General Grant in entire control 
of all the armies of the United States, and his summons 
to Washington. 

Nothing could be more illustrative of the modesty and 
magnanimity of Grant, than the following letter which 
he wrote to General Sherman two days after his appoint- 
ment : 

" Dear Shervian : The bill reviving the grade of Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral in the army has become a law, and my name has been sent to the 
Senate for the place. I now receive orders to report to Washington 
immediately in person, which indicates a confirmation, or a likeli- 
hood of confirmation. I start in the morning to comply with the 
order, 

" Whilst I have been eminently successful in this war in at least gain- 
ing the confidence of the public, no one feels more than I how much 
of this success is due to the energy, skill, and the harmonious putting 
forth of that energy and skill, of those whom it has been my good for- 
tune to have occupying subordinate positions under me. 

'* There are many officers to whom these remarks are applicable to a 
greater or less degree, proportionate to their ability as soldiers; but 
what I want is to express my thanks to you and McPherson, as the 
men to whom above all others I feel indebted for whatever I have had 
of success. How far your advice and assistance has been of service to 
me, you know. How far your execution of whatever has been given 
you to do entitles you to the reward I am receiving, you cannot know 
as well as I. I feel all the gratitude this letter would express, giving it 
the most flattering construction. 

" The word you I use in the plural, intending it for McPherson also. 
I should write to him, and will some day; but starting in the morn- 
ing, I do no know that I will find time just now. Your friend, 

" U. S. Grant, Major- General," 




499 



500 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

An equally graceful testimony to the regard In which 
the two great soldiers held each other, came back in 

the reply ; 

''Dear General : I have your more than kind and characteristic 
letter of the 4th inst. 1 will send a copy to Gen McPherson at once. 
You do yourself injustice and us too much honor in assigning to us too 
large a share of the merits which led to your high advancement. I 
know you approve the friendship I have ever professed to you, and will 
permit me to continue as heretofore to manifest it on all proper occa- 
sions. You are now Washington's legitimate successor, and occupy a 
position of almost dangerous elevation ; but if you can continue, as 
heretofore, to be yourself— simple, honest and unpretending— you will 
enjoy through life the respect and love of friends, and the homage of 
millions of human beings that will award you a large share in securing 
to them and their descendants a government of law and stability. I re- 
peat, you do General McPherson and myself too much honor. At Bel- 
mont you manifested your traits, neither of us being near. At Donel- 
son also you illustrated your whole character. I was not near, and 
General McPherson in too subordinate a capacity to influence you. 

" Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was almost cowed by the 
terrible array of anarchical elements that presented themselves at every 
point, but that admitted a ray of light I have followed since. I believe 
you are as brave, patriotic and just as the great prototype Washington ; 
as unselfish, kind-hearted and honest as a man should be ; but the chief 
characteristic is the simple faith in success you have always manifested, 
which I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in the 
Saviour, This faith gave you victory at Shiloh and Vicksburg. Also, 
when you have completed your best preparations, you go into battle 
without hesitation, as at Chattanooga — no doubts, no reserves, and I 
tell you it was this that made us act with confidence. I knew where- 
ever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you 
would help me out if alive. My only point of doubt was in your 
knowledge of grand strategy, and of books of science and history ; 
but I confess your common sen.se seems to have supplied all the,-,e. 

"Don't stay in Washington. Come west. Take to yourself the 
whole Mississippi valley. Let us make it dead sure, and I tell you the 
Atlantic slope and Pacific shore will follow its destiny as sure as the 
limbs of a tree live or die with the main trunk. We have done much, 
but still much remains. Time and time's influences are with us. We 
could almost afTord to sit still and let these influences work. 



CHATTANOOGA TO WASHINGTON. 501 

" Here lies the seat of the coming empire, and from the west when 
our task is done, we will make short work of Charleston and Richmond 
and the impoverished coast of the Atlantic. Your sincere friend, 

" W. T. Sherman." 

In I "i speech in the lower house of Congress, on the 
Lieutenant-Generalship bill, Hon. E. B. Washburne said: 
**I am not here to speak for General Grant. No man, 
with his consent, has ever mentioned his name in connec- 
tion with any position. I say what I know to be true, 
when I allege that every promotion he has received since 
he first entered the service to put down the rebellion, 
was moved without his knowledge or consent ; and in 
regard to this very matter of Licutenant-General, after 
the bill was introduced and his name mentioned in con- 
nection therewith, he wrote me and admonished me that 
he had been highly honored already by the government, 
and did not ask or deserve anything more in the shape 
of honors or promotion; and that a success over the 
enemy was what he craved above everything else ; that 
he only desired to hold such an influence over those un- 
der his command, as to use them to the best advantage 
to secure that end." 

As was said at the opening of the chapter the self-con- 
tained, reliant, modest, generous soldier had reached the 
anti-climax of his career. With firm, steady, confident 
steps he had striven up the heights to the extreme sum- 
mit of military renown. He had avoided the pitfalls. 
He had passed through the intrigues and experiments of 
the early days of the war with careless contempt. With- 
out an apparent struggle, with no wakeful hours of anx- 
ious ambition behind him, with no envious longings to ac- 
cuse him, with no bitter strivings, he had progressed calmly 
to that which was the ambition of all his fellows. Uncon- 
sciously because naturally, he had chosen the right path. 



o02 LIFE OF GENFFAL GRANT. 

and the singleness of purpose and unselfishness of action 
which were the great assistants to his pre-eminent 
military genius, were the factors which compelled his eleva- 
tion. On the ninth day of March he received his com- 
mission, and took control of the mightiest army that any 
man had commanded since the invention of guns. Not 
only did he have a great military problem to solve, but 
the political conditions which were now for the first time 
close to him were vexatious and embarrassing. They 
were calculated to greatly hamper the commander in his 
movements, should he be influenced by them. But it 
had been proven that he was above such control. They 
did not disturb him in any degree, but with confidence 
he began his preparations for the great final conflict on 
the national battle-ground. 



CHAPTER XXXIl. 

THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF RICHMOND. 

Colonel Charles Marshall— The country between the James and the Potomac— The 
disadvantage of scattering Federal forces— The Army of Northern Virginia— Lee's 
motive in concentrating the Confederates— A constant menace to the Northern 
frontier — Easy access to Richmond— Gram's changing base of supplies — The last 
move towards Washington. 

It has always been a question in the minds of those 
who have studied the question but casually, why the Con- 
federate government should have been so persistent in its 
defense of Richmond. It left long Hues of territory en- 
tirely unguarded to concentrate its forces at the capital, 
and for four years the bloodiest pages of war were writ- 
ten in Virginia. But the reason, after all, is plain enough. 
It is drawn from Colonel Charles Marshall, the military 
secretary and confidential friend of General Lee, now a 
prominent lawyer of Baltimore, General Gordon and 
others. 

Richmond had a value, from a military point of 
view, which far exceeded its importance as the politi- 
cal centre of the Confederate government. The 
great region of country between the James River 
and the Potomac, was the Flanders of the war. This ter- 
ritory, in which fully a quarter of a million men perished 
during the four years of struggle, was of great value to 
the Confederacy on account of the supplies and recruits 
it furnished, but it had a larger importance than this. The 
effectiveness of any army we had depended in a great 
degree upon its proximity to the enemy's country, and it 
soon became apparent that the same number of Confed- 
erate troops could not be placed where they would give 

503 



504 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

occupation to a larger number of Federal troops than 
between the James and the Potomac. 

It was within easy reach of the sensitive Southern 
frontier of the United States, On its extreme border 
stood the city of Washington, for the protection of which 
the Federal government considered no sacrifice too great. 
As long as we threatened that border there would be a 
concentration of the enemy's troops in its defense which 
would prevent any formidable movement in other direc- 
tions. We could best secure immunity from invasion 
for vast stretches of Southern territory by making no 
attempt of any kind to protect them. We were com- 
pelled to concentrate our strength, but we also compelled 
the enemy to concentrate his at the same time. 

It must be remembered that the resources of the Fed- 
eral government greatly exceeded those ot the Confed- 
eracy. They could be lavish with that which we had to 
economize. Great armies gathered along our frontier. 
Nimble gunboats and powerful iron-clads swarmed in our 
rivers and along our coasts. Every part of the South 
felt itself exposed and in peril. 

It was manifestly impossible for the Confederacy to 
oppose this vast force at every point which might be as- 
sailed. The fatal consequences of such an attempt had 
been demonstrated as soon as military operations had 
begun in 1862. Kentucky and a great part of Tennes- 
see were quickly overrun. Missouri was practically lost, 
New Orleans fell and General Johnston was obliged to 
retire from Northern Virginia, while strong expeditions of 
the enemy succeeded in establishing themselves along 
our Atlantic coast. The Confederates had some troops 
everywhere but not enough anywhere. 

It was after this that the sensitiveness which was felt 
in the North aljout tlie safety of Washington was fully 



THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF RICHMOND. 50o 

utilized. The precautions taken for the defense of tlie 
Federal capital were always in proportion to the anxiety 
of the audiorities concerning it rather than to the actual 
danger of losing it. The presejice of General Johnston's 
army at Manassas detained that of General Mc Clellan, 
nearly three times as strong, at Washington during the 
autumn and winter of 1861-62. When Jackson, with a 
small force, drove Banks across the Potomac, Mc Dowell 
was called from Fredericksburg to oppose him and Mc 
Clellan was deprived of the co-operation of that army in 
his proposed attack upon Richmond. From this time 
forward we availed ourselves of this trepidadon about 
the Federal capital, and this will be found to be a marked 
feature of the operations of the Army of Northern Vir- 
o-inia under the command of General Lee. 

He resorted to this plan to compel General McClellan 
to withdraw from the James after he had been dislodged 
from the Chickahominy. Generals Jackson and Hill 
were sent against Pope, and General Burnside, who had 
been recalled to assist Mc Clellan, was forced to go to 
Fredericksburg to co-operate with Pope in resisdng the 
Confederate advance. At the same time the troops of 
D. H. Hill, which had been stationed south of the James 
River, were drawn to Richmond with such forces as the 
withdrawal of Burnside from North Carolina had made 
available, with orders to follow the main body Northward 
as soon as Mc Cleljan was recalled. This completed 
the concentradon of the Confederate troops which re- 
sulted in the formadon of the powerful Army of Northern 
Virginia. 

The results anticipated came in rapid sequence. Mc 
Clellan's army was brought to reinforce Pope ; troops 
were taken from the coast of Carolina and from West 
Virginia to aid in defending the Federal capital, and it 



506 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

became evident that a Confederate army could not render 
more efficient service and afford more complete protec- 
tion to the country than by arousing the apprehensions 
of the authorities at Washington for the safety of that 
city. 

The conclusion was a good one, for the e-xtreme sen- 
sitiveness of the Federal authorities as to the safety of 
Washington was of immense advantage to our cause. 
It was this very sentiment, which was too strong to be 
resisted, that no doubt compelled the plan of campaign 
that General Grant began when he crossed the Rapidan 
and continued to the end. Any other movement that he 
might have made would have probably been distu rbed by the 
popular clamor about the safety of the national capital. 

But when the presence of our army in Northern 
Virginia was of advantage in many ways, it is apparent 
that to enable that army to accomplish its object it needed 
all the strength the Confederacy could give it. It was 
near the Northern border, in the continual presence of 
all the Union armies, and constantly exposed to the 
attack of superior numbers. It had a gigantic task im- 
posed upon it, yet valuable as Northern Virginia was to 
the Confederacy, its possession came to depend entirely 
upon our ability to defend Richmond. Here were estab- 
lished the depots and arsenals of the army. Through 
Richmond it had the chief means of access to sources of 
supply further South. With Richmond, in the Federal 
hands, the army on the Northern frontier could not liave 
maintained itself. No other city in Virginia had railroad 
facilities sufficient with friendly territory to supply the 
force necessary for our operations. At the same time 
the troops so supplied would have to assume all the 
difficulties which the situation of Richmond imposed upon 
those who undertook to defend it. 



THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF RICHMOND. 507 

Early in the second year of the war the Confederacy 
was compelled to yield to the Federals quiet possession 
of the James river, to within a few miles of Richmond. 
From thenceforward it was always possible for the North 
to transport troops and land them within a day's march 
of the Confederate capital. The York river afforded ad- 
ditional facilities to the enemy. In fact, the place upon 
which so much depended was almost as accessible by 
water from Northern Territory as the city of Alexandria. 
Its distance from the base of, or Federal army operating 
against it, gave it no advantage. Troops and supplies 
could be brought almost to its gates by safe and rapid 
water transportation. 

A striking illustration of the disadvantages which an 
army defending Richmond had to contend against was 
furnished in 1864, when General Grant moved from 
Culpeper Court-house to the James River. He abandoned 
his communications with the Orange and Alexandria 
road, but his first halt in the Wilderness, and his next at 
Spotsylvania, afforded him easy and safe access to the 
Potomac River at Acquia Creek, within a few hours rail 
of Washington, and by a road directly in the rear of and 
covered by his army. As he advanced further south to 
the Annas he had the same advantage. The Rappa- 
hannock below Fredericksburg gave him new water 
communications with his base, using Port Royal in the 
rear of the army as a landing. When his third stage 
brouo-ht him to Pamunkey, another and secure communi- 
cation was opened at Washington by York River and the 
Chesapeake Bay, and when his last march brought him 
to the James, all the Northern depots were open to him 
and he was not required to detach a man for their pro- 
tecdon. Virtually, therefore, General Lee was entirely 
deprived of the advantages which generally accrue to an 



508 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

opposing force when a hostile army is invading its country. 
He could only oppose direct opposition to the advance 
of the enemy, and this explains the bloody conflicts of the 
overland campaign. 

This facility of communication was the source of 
numerous drawbacks in the defense of Richmond. It had 
none of the advantages of an interior point, while it im- 
posed upon our army, which was much the smaller, the 
protection of long lines of railroad which had to be kept 
open to furnish us with necessary supplies. The diffi- 
culties of the defense were many. The city was exposed 
and the naval supremacy of the enemy was absolute. To 
a large extent, too, the necessity which existed for saving 
it from capture controlled the operations of the army to 
our advantage. This, added to the numbers and resources 
of the enemy made the odds against us overwhelming. 
Still, General Lee handled his comparatively small force 
with consummate ability. 

The most marked influence which the situation of 
Richmond, and the necessity of providing for its defense 
exerted upon the conduct of the war in X'irginia, is seen 
in its connections with the expeditions of the army be- 
yond the Potomac. It was a saying of General Lee 
that Richmond was never so safe as when its defenders 
were absent. He meant that the safety of our capital 
depended upon our ability to keep the enemy employed 
elsewhere. Such was the policy adopted by him from 
the time the army moved Northward, in 1S62, until worn 
out with more than two years of exhausting war, it was 
forced to retire within the intrenchments of Richmond 
before the great and ever-increasing numbers of the ad- 
versary. 

It is not the intention to trace the events of the cam- 
paign beyond the Potomac. I have simply wished to 



THE STRATEGIC VALUE OE RICHMOND. 509 

show that the situation at Richmond was intimately con- 
nected with the designs of General Lee in undertaking 
all his expeditions which threatened the Northern fron- 
tier. Sharpsburg and Gettysburg were included in the 
desio'n. They were part of the plan by which he sought 
to defend Richmond and thereby maintain the Army of 
Northern Virginia in its proximity to the enemy's 
country. It is not impossible that, had the Federal ob- 
jective in Virginia been a less accessible and less im- 
portant place, the Confederate army might have gained 
advantages which would have enabled it to take the 
offensive. It is more likely, however, that the govern- 
ment would have availed itself of the opportunity to re- 
inforce its armies in the South and West rather than 
attempt the invasion of the North. Indeed, at one time, 
while the army lay on the Rapidan in 1863-64 it was in 
contemplation to send General Lee himself to take com- 
mand of the army in Georgia. 

"The confidence of General Lee, in the belief that 
Richmond could not be successfully defended except by 
keeping the enemy at a distance, was maintained to the 
last. When his forces were diminished and apparently 
worn out he did not hesitate to send General Early on 
his expedition to Maryland ; but the vast superiority of 
the enemy in numbers enabled him to provide for the 
defense of Washington without seriously impairing the 
strength of Grant's army, and the siege of Richmond re- 
mained unbroken. 

"Throughout the bloody campaign Lee was over- 
weip-hted. He had the burden of Richmond constandy 
on one arm while he dealt his ponderous blows at the 
Federal Government with the odier. The extent and 
magnitude of his services were very great. He handled 
a force inferior in numbers with extraordinary skill, and 



610 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

maintained a defense unparalleled in military history. 
It was here that he showed himself at his greatest. 
Against extraordinary obstacles, in spite of great odds, 
with insufficient supplies and a virtually detached com- 
mand, he made his last struggle with a courage and 
sagacity which were remarkable. There was no time 
after the first few months when there was any hope of a 
successful termination for him. The chances were all 
against him ; yet he struggled on with remarkable 
pertinacity and maintained himself until his lines were 
hardly strong enough to be formed. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 

Grant on the Rapidan — Matched against Lee — What he thought of his army — In- 
teresting reminiscences of Admiral Amnien — His judgment of Lee — Crossing 
the river — The first day's fight — The fight preparations — Hancock's day- 
break attack — Burnside's tardiness — The failure to mass the troops — The Con- 
federate assault — Fighting flame — A desperate attack — The Confederate retreat 
— The Sedgwick disaster — The two generals. 

When the new Lieutenant-General decided to remain 
East against the advice of his Western friends, he 
accepted a great responsibility fearlessly. Personally, 
he was a stranger to the situation in and about Wash- 
ington. He knew nothing, excepting by hearsay, 
about the political complications that surrounded the 
army movements within range of the National Capi- 
tal. Politicians were neither his acquaintances nor 
friends. His life, as a citizen, had been too quiet 
for their uses, and his life, as a soldier, had been 
too busy and unobtrusive to more than attract their 
attention. 

The experiences of other generals with the Army of 
the Potomac, for one reason or another, were not assur- 
ing, yet he felt the importance of changing the order of 
things, and of commanding in person the movements 
against the one adversary that seemed to defy all attacks. 
He went down to the army lying about and beyond 
Culpeper Court House, after having reached this de- 
termination. 

On his way, he met for a few moments his life-time 
friend, Rufus Ingalls, who was quartermaster of the 
army, and they talked over the situation. An old and 

(511) 



512 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

distinguished officer of the Army of the Potomac now 
writes thus of the situation when he arrived : 

" We did not receive the new Commandincr General 
with any enthusiasm. We did not fling off our hats and 
cheer as we used to when McClellan rode along the 
lines. Yorktown, Williamsburg, the Chickahominy, the 
Seven Days' Battle, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancel- 
lorsville and Gettysburg had taken the gush out of us, 
and we wanted to take his measure before we took any 
stock in him. In fact, we were rather jealous at having 
a Western man made better than our own officers. But 
the campaign began, and, although Grant never spared 
us, he kept rising higher and higher in our confidence, 
until he won it so completely, that it has never been 
and never can be shaken." 

Grant's first headquarters were at Culpeper, and he 
spent a little time in looking over the army he was now 
to command, and in preparing for his forward move- 
ment. Immediately on the opposite side of the Rapidan 
river, well fortified and putting his forces in superb shape 
for the spring campaign, was General Lee, and the two 
armies practically faced each other before the operations 
began. It must be borne in mind that General Grant 
was to open his spring campaign with a distinctive plan 
of operations, in which all the armies of the Union were 
to be thrown simultaneously upon the enemy in every 
different military' department. 

He was a stranger to the Army of the Potomac. 
Most of the officers he had never met, and with its 
singular record of failure to make an impression upon 
Lee behind it, he assumed a position that would have 
made most men nervous. The officer above quoted 
depicts the general sentiment of the army, although it 
was faithful, willine, and even anxious to strike the 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 



513 



enemy under any leadership that would bring success. 
Of this fact General Grant thoroughly assured himself. 




GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE. 

and before he issued the orders for the opening move- 
ment of the long campaign that closed the war, he 
had become more than satisfied with his army. 

2H 



514 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General Meade, its commander, had gained great dis- 
tinction at Gettysburg, but in the months that followed it 
he had not been able to do anything more with his adver- 
sar}' to attract the attention of the country. Yet Grant, 
after making a careful study of the situation, confirmed 
him in the command of the Arm)- of the Potomac under 
the new regime, and he never had cause to regret it. 
From the time the army moved, all of Grant's orders to 
his forces were given through Meade, and the relations 
between the two Generals were exceedingly cordial. 

The very day before he moved, his boyhood friend, 
Rear-Admiral Daniel Ammen, had come down to visit 
him by his invitation. In the morning they mounted 
horses and together rode out for an inspection of the 
army. Sweeping along through the well-ordered troops 
towards Pony Mountain, they reached an eminence from 
which to the right they could look over beyond the 
Rapidan. All over the intervening space between, on 
this side of the river, lay the troops which were to give 
battle within thirty-six hours. 

" It was a pleasant morning," says Admiral Ammen, 
" and the sight was inspiriting. I never s^v General 
Grant in better humor in my life, or knew hini to speak 
with more earnestness. Once there was almost enthu- 
siasm in his manner. As he looked off at the army 
which lay spread out before him, he said : 

" ' Here is as large an army as I know how to com- 
mand, under the actual surroundings of this situation. 
I do not feel at liberty to say how many men I hope to 
take into battle, nor do I feel like speaking of the result 
of the advance ; but here is a force that, if strung out in 
column in the usual order of march, with the incidental 
supply trains, would reach from Culpeper to Richmond, 
and the head of the force would be at the Confederate 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 515 

capital before the rear had begun to move ; but,' with 
a twinkle in his eye. he added, ' I do not expect to 
reach Richmond in that way, or by that order of 
inarch.' 

"I alluded to the breastworks, when he said that they 
had been thrown up to occupy the men and mislead 
General Lee as to his intentions. He spoke somewhat 
freely to me of his opinion of General Lee. and said that 
as a military genius he did not think he was the superior 
of General Joseph E. Johnston ; ' but.' he added, ' Lee has 
the confidence and affection not only of his entire com- 
mand, but of the people behind him, and were he pos- 
sessed of a far less ability than he has he would not be 
an indifferent man to meet. Lee is a crood man and a 
fair commander, but he must have the condidons about 
him favorable. The South regards ever^^thing he does 
as all right, and this is a great advantage. He has not 
a hostile press and a suspicious people behind him. He 
holds in a greater degree than any man connected with 
the rebellion the confidence of his section. He will 
have all the support that the Confederacy can give him. 
Such trust is of great assistance to a commander.' 

"I asked what he thought of his chances in conflict 
with Lee. His reply was : 

" T can anticipate nothing. I shall do the very best 
in my power to whip out the rebellion upon the plan 
that I have now decided upon. My command,' said he, 
' is one of the finest armies and most magnificently 
equipped bodies of men that has ever been gathered 
for field work, and I hope for success.' 

" He expressed this opinion and confidence in his 
army in a manner nearer approaching enthusiasm than 
I had ever seen in him befor^. 

" After some further general talk we rode back to 



616 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

his headquarters and very soon after the army began to 
move across the Rapidan. As I was taking the train 
at Brandy Station, the last of it, under Burnside's com- 
mand, was marching towards the scene of the conflict. 
That afternoon the batde of the Wilderness began." 

It seems impossible to gather Grant's judgment of 
men and things except from just such incidents as Mr. 
Ammen relates, but this old naval officer here furnishes 
the best index yet in print of Grant's temper and 
purpose as he moved his arm)' to his first clinch with 
Lee. 

The Rapidan is quite a small stream, which flows 
through a ver>' interesting part of the Old Dominion. 
At several points, as it runs towards die Rappahannock 
at Fredericksburg, it can be forded with litde difficulty. 
The army moved by the road leading to these fords. 
Kelly's, Ely's. Raccoon and Germanna are the principal 
ones that have become famous as associated with war 
like operations. Ely's and Germanna fords were the 
principal ones used for the passage of Grant's army 
towards the Wilderness. 

Grant himself, with the bulk of his command, crossed 
at Ely's ford, the Fifth Corps leading the advance. The 
country leads up b)' gentle slope to a range of hills on 
the opposite bank, and then stretches awa\- for miles a 
wild, wooded region, through which roads are scarce 
and the movement of troops difficult. It was Grant's 
plan to strike and turn die k-ft tlank of Lee's army, and 
place himself between his adversary and Richmond. 

Hardly had he taken up his line of march before Lee, 
taking the gauge of his plan, moved his army forward 
to check his advance and occupy the Brock road, the 
key to all the highways in that wild region. Ewell. with 
Heth's and Wilcox's divisions, reached the vital point of 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 617 

the field before Warren, when Warren pushed forward 
with great vigor to reach the point In the woods which 
would give the Federal army the control of the roads 
running in both directions through the Wilderness. This 
brought on the conflict, which at first turned In Warren's 
favor, and it seemed as though the Union troops would 
reach the desired point ; but the remarkable character of 
the country that prevented reinforcements reaching 
Warren in time thwarted that object, and the night of 
the 5th of May came on with no particular advantage 
gained on either side. This phase of the battle is 
treated of fully in the opening chapter of this work. 

All during the night of the 5th both sides were pre- 
paring for the morrow's battle. The most unceasing 
activity prevailed. Each felt the tremendous responsi- 
bility involved In the storm which was to burst forth 
with Increased fury at daybreak. So great was the 
watchfulness that even the wounded could not be carried 
off Every light and every noise attracted a volley. 
Both armies were at an extreme tension and the thickets 
were full of spectral figures moving about with ghostly 
eagerness and caution. The heavy darkness which 
wrapped the maze of brush and jungle in a thick mantle 
throbbed with the pulse beats of fate. 

General Grant was In his tent. It was pitched in a 
ravine just behind and below the post of observation he 
had occupied during the day's battle. He knew that he 
was only in the first chapter of the struggle, but he had 
no doubts as to the results. Enveloped in his almost 
stolid equanimity, he issued his orders tersely and con- 
fidently for the disposition of the troops. To the 
officers, to whom his manner and methods were yet new. 
it seemed as If he scarcely appreciated the immense 
responsibility of his situation. The inspiration of a 



518 LIFE OF GEAF.RAL GFAXT. 

sudden offensive at dawn was still novel to them. They 
had not yet learned that he dealt with the greatest of 
tasks as he did with the lightest — that his self-reliance 
was uniform. There was no excitement, no nerv'ous- 




(, RANTS Hi:.A.lJOl. AKlKKb IN IHl:. U 1LUI-.K.M.>>. 

ness, no apprehension in his deportment. The tremen- 
dous issue at stake, the exceeding difficulty of the battle- 
ground, the accidents which might enter as important 
elements in the conflict, Burnside's failure to come up 
with his corps — all these he had weighed in his mind. 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 519 

and the only expression in his face was the conscious- 
ness of advantage implied by the utter absence of 
anything like apprehension. He gave his orders to 
Meade quiedy and seemed to regard a successful issui: 
as a matter of course. 

In dramatic silence the two armies lay. Through the 
darkness beyond one line. Longstreet was marching to 
a juncture with Lee, and the morrow would see a des- 
perate effort to crush the national army. Through the 
darkness beyond the other line Burnside was marching 
to join Grant. Much depended upon the weary feet of 
the tired soldiery which were sounding upon the devious 
roads through the sombre night. 

Grant intended to pursue his established policy of 
acting upon the offensive, and the order went out to 
attack at half past four. The lines could not be formed 
by that time, however, and the hour was changed to five. 
The main assault was to be made by Hancock with fully 
half the army under his command. He was to attack 
the front. Wadsworth was to attack the left and. if 
Burnside succeeded in penetrating the Confederate 
centre, he was to turn upon Lee's right and endeavor to 
break it up. The instructions to Sedgwick and Warren 
were to make feint attacks, to confuse the enemy as 
much as possible, and prevent reinforcements from 
being sent to vital points. This was the plan of the 
great game of battle which was to begin with such 
desperate earnestness as soon as the first faint glow of 
gray streaked the Eastern sky. 

At precisely five o'clock Hancock moved upon the 
enemy. Longstreet had come up and was directed to 
support Hill. He found some difficulty in getting into 
position, and an attack on the Union right was made by 
the Confederate left to p-ive Long-street time. This attack 



520 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was the first of the day ; but, almost immediately, Han- 
cock, who had not yet massed the entire force which had 
been instructed to operate with him, struck the enemy 
on the Orange plank road. Wadsworth followed out 
his orders at the same time and assaulted Lee's ri^ht. 
It was a struggle of confusions. The fighting was des- 
perate at the very start. Ihere was charge and 
counter-charge at all points along the line. The Con- 
federates maintained their position for a while at great 
loss, but the impetuous force of the national soldiery 
beat down the resistance. At last, after an hour of 
carnage, the enemy's lines were broken and they fell 
back into the woods. At the time, their demoralization 
was complete. They had lost the first trick in the game 
of battle, and Hancock found himself close upon Lee's 
headquarters. Here he stopped to reform his line. 

In the meantime, Longstreet had been sent to support 
Hill against I lancock's terrible assaults, and he appeared 
upon the field just as the Confederates broke. . Instantly 
an order was sent to Hurnside to forward Stevenson's 
division to Hancock's assistance, while he, with the other 
two divisions, was to attack on the Parker's Store road. 
He was to fill the gap between Warren and Hancock, 
and when he reached there the attack was to be simul- 
taneous all along the line. 

The entire army waited for Burnside, and there was a 
lull in the conflict until he should appear. Every moment 
was of great value, because the longer the wait the more 
complete would be the preparations of the enemy for the 
attack. The most intense impatience was felt. Eyes 
and ears were strained to their utmost for sight and 
sound of the expected troops. Aides galloped back with 
orders to hasten the movement, but in vain. Burnside 
was flounderino- throui^-h the thickets, and he could not 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 521 

advance with any more rapidity. The greatest appre- 
hension was felt at the results of the delay. It seemed 
at one time that the battle would be lost by reason of it. 
Certain it is that the opportunity of crushing the enemy'^ 
right was rapidly dying away. The minutes seemed 
hours and the hours seemed days during this wait 
which was so full of threatening to the Federal arm)-. 
Opportunity was dying in the arms of delay. 

Meanwhile, Hancock had been reinforced from another 
portion of the army and the battle was renewed. Long- 
street struck his left in the fury of assault, and the desper- 
ate turmoil again sounded its harsh note on the morning 
air. The impetus of Longstreet's charge was too great 
for resistance. The Federal advance was swept away, 
and Hancock fell back to the point at which he had 
entered upon the conflict in the morning. The fruits of 
the early repulse were lost, but the Federals were safe 
behind the breastw^orks along the Brock road. There 
there was no assault. 

There had been two hours of fighting, and it had been 
of the fiercest character. Wadsworth was dead — killed 
while trying to rally his men. Longstreet. severely 
wounded in the midst of the battle, had been carried to 
the rear. The Federals had lost their advantage of the 
morning by reason of Burnside's inability to come up, 
and the situation was much as it had been when the 
battle first began. The mettle of both sides had been 
thoroughly tested. Each had met with a repulse, but 
had not lost a foot in the storm and terror of the con- 
test. When Longstreet was wounded, General Lee. in 
person, took command of the Confederate right, and 
strove to lead it against the breastworks behind which 
the Federals waited in angr)' restlessness. But the 
movement was too desperate in its character, and the 



522 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

men would not go. They fell back in sullen irregularity, 
and Leasure, at Hancock's order, cleared the space in 
front of the national breastworks. 

At this hour neither side had gained any material ad- 
vantage. Grant's plan of batde had only been partially 
carried out. The fiehtino- had been desultor\- instead 
of in mass. There had been no general and harmoni- 
ous movement upon the enemy. The thickets and 
undererowth of the Wilderness had been ehkient allies 
of the Southern army. 

Sdll Burnside did not strike. He was struggling 
through a country in which he could not, at times, see 
his own command. At the best he could only grope 
forward through the confusion towards the front. The 
anxiety at his delay increased. No general assault 
could be made until he arrived. The woods were an 
abatis raised by nature, whose value the enemy fully 
comprehended and used. To drive them out would 
entail great loss to the nadonal army with no corres- 
ponding advantage. All that could be done now was 
to wait. 

It was during this critical time of suspense that the 
officers of the Eastern army first began to know Grant. 
The general anxiety did not effect him in the slightest 
degree. No apprehension of a disastrous result seemed 
to enter his mind. During the crowded hours of the 
morning he had given his orders quickly and coolly, 
ruling the turmoil with the will of a master. At this 
time but one outlet to Washington remained open to him 
— the German na ford. ShouUl the Confederates get to 
the rear of the main attacking column the army would 
be in a trap, and its escape would almost be impossible. 
Meanwhile, the Sixth Corps was in the air near the river, 
and Sedgwick was ordered to i)rotect his right with 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 528 

entrenchments. To the other officers it seemed as if the 
fate of the battle was at the caprice of fortune but the 
commander had provided for every emergency. His 
tactics were all offensive and, should his rear be cut off. 
he intended a movement between Lee and Richmond 
which would draw the Confederates from the woods and 
give the Union troops the full benefit of their superior 
numbers. He was the master not the slave of events. 

The last great struggle of the day was now to come. 
The national soldiers lay in their entrenchments, watching 
warily for a move on the part of the enemy. At last it 
burst upon them. With impatient ardor the Confeder- 
ates, still under the personal command of General Lee, 
crowded to the edge of the woods and opened a fierce 
and continuous fire upon Hancock's line. It did not 
waver. Scarcely a hundred paces separated the foes, 
and the fighting was very deadly. Behind their para- 
pets the Federals poured volley after volley into Lee's 
advance. For more than an hour the savage duel of 
the armies continued, and then nature came again to 
the assistance of the Confederates. The woods cauo-ht 
fire in several places and flared to the sky. The sol- 
diers were too hotly engaged in their work of death to 
fight the flames and the fire spread. Trunk after trunk 
w^as seized by the hot grasp of the conflagration, but the 
armies fought on. unheedful of it. Finally the flames 
darted over the space between the contending forces 
and fired the Federal breastworks. Still the battle con- 
tinued. It was a picture terrible in its grandeur. The 
savage hate of the men below, and the savage delight 
of the flames above, made a weird harmony of de- 
struction. The fierce cries of the contestants, the quick. 
sharp voices of the officers, the steady terror of the 
musketry, the agonies of the wounded — all the confus- 



524 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ing noises which make the din of warfare — blent with 
the crackhng of tiame-licked hmbs and the crash of 
charred and fahinor trunks. 

At last the flames won. The Federals could no 
longer approach their blazing parapets. Confused 
and blinded, and burned by the swirling smoke and in- 
creasing heat, they were forced in several places to 
abandon their entrenchments. This seemed to Lee 
the time for an assault ; and, dashing forward, the 
Confederates reached some of the breastworks. Hut 
the triumph was only for the moment. Almost as soon 
as they had gained the position Carroll's brigade was 
thrown upon them, and they were driven back across 
the belt of fire, leaving their dead and wounded behind 
them. No further assaults were made, and the day 
ended just where it had begun. Hancock still held the 
hne he had started from in the morning. 

Meanwhile, an affair was taking place near the river 
where Sedgwick was entrenched, which was the cause of 
much disquieting rumor. Gordon had made a sudden 
attack on Sedgwick's right, turned it and captured two 
general officers and several hundred prisoners. The 
importance of the repulse was greatly exaggerated, and 
the army was rife with rumors that Sedgwick, who 
guarded the one ford, had been completely cut to 
pieces. The wildest stories of the disaster were car- 
ried to Grant, but he continued quite undisturbed. 
He gave his orders as to what slioukl be done to re- 
pair the line if it had been as badly injured as was 
reported, and then lay down and went to sleep. 

No more striking illustration of his extraordinary self- 
confidence could be offered than this. His army had 
been fighting all day without result. True, Lee had 
been constantly on the offensive, and it had succeeded 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 52.') 

in preventing him from gaining any advantage, but, be- 
yond this, there had been no results. The cHmax of 
the struggle was the alarming report of Sedgwick's 
defeat, which seemed to threaten ruin to the entire army. 
But through it all he maintained his composure and, after 
taking the necessary precautionary measures, he gave 
himself, with serene confidence in his star, to the rest 
and unconsciousness of slumber. 

The battle in the Wilderness will live as long as the 
world shall last, and the stor)- of it will never be told. 
Volumes could be written without depicting the move- 
ments of the various organizations, or of telling the 
episodes of heroic encounters that took place in those 
woods. Grant himself said no such fighting had ever 
been known in intensity and fierceness, except, perhaps, 
at Shiloh. The record, as it has been made up by 
historian or soldier, contains no more brilliant evidence 
of the wonderful stubbornness and heroic gallantry- ot 
the American citizen than was displayed upon the field 
where Grant first tested the metde of his new army and 
at the same time the quality of the leader against him. 

Two giants in war had met, unlike yet alike. Two 
men of remarkable self-poise, reticence, sternness and 
composure were now pitted against each other in the 
awful game of life and death — the game b)- which wars 
are decided, disputed questions setded and a country' first 
learns the character of its citizenship and its reliability 
when the sword is called upon to preserve its integrity. 
And, after the first test, the question as to which was 
the greater, still hung in the balance. 

The reasons are plain enough. The struggle had 
been upon complicated ground. They had fought in 
what was almost darkness. There had been a contusion 
of men trying to slay each other in a confusion ot under- 



526 LIFE OF GENERAL GRA^'T. 

growth. As far as military genius was concerned not 
very much was displayed. Lee had shown a ready 
knowledge of the situation in taking advantage of the 
natural abatis which were presented. In such quarters 
numbers made little difference. It was rather a strug- 
gle of individuals. Taking the battle and all its var)'ing 
incidents as a whole, it is rather a testimony of the 
splendid qualities of the American soldiery than a 
tribute to the abilities of the commanders. Its main 
feature was the desperate fighting. On either side there 
was a determination not to yield, and ever)' point con- 
tested for was held to the last. If the stor^^ of the 
Wilderness furnishes a divided tribute to the eenerals, it 
does not differ as to the courageous vigor shown by the 
soldiers of both sides. 



I 
I 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

GORDON ON THE WILDERNESS. 

Graphic Confederate story of Grant's first fight as Lieutenant-General — General 
Gordon's description of the field— A hand-to-hand conflict — The varying 
fortunes of the day— Warren's struggle with Ewell — Gordon strikes and 
breaks the Sixth corps — "A hellish attack" — General Lee rides over the 
field — His estimate of Grant — The movement from the field — Gordon at 
Spottsylvania. 

It has been the constant aim of the writer to o-et 
within the covers of this work a chain of facts. Gossip 
is not history. Camp rumors, and even the pubHcations 
about great events at the time of their occurrence, are 
not always trustworthy. Years are necessary to cool the 
enthusiasm a combat creates in all who take part in it. 
Therefore it is that a faithful record of revolutions can- 
not be made until lono- after the battles have been 
fought, the victories won. Then, to make a satisfactory 
review of the dreadful panorama of war, it is well to 
present side by side the statements of the actors in the 
crises. With this end in view many of the most dis- 
tinguished officers who participated in the bloody actions 
of the Rebellion, on the Confederate as well as on the 
Union side, have been induced to contribute their re- 
collections of momentous movements and engagements. 
They are herein recorded as related. None will be 
found of more absorbino- interest than those furnished 
by Lieutenant-General John B. Gordon, who was one 
of General Lee's ablest and most trusted lieutenants. 

After the war he became one of the Democratic 
leaders in the United States Senate, and has, perhaps, 

(527) 



628 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



done more than any other Southern man to bring recon- 
ciHation and peace between the North and the South. 
For the material development of his section he has stood 
first, and labored with a zeal and singleness of purpose 
that have commanded national respect. His recollec- 
tions, given in the form of a conversation with the writer, 




I 



GENERAL GORDON. 

begin with this graphic story of the battle in the Wilder- 
ness: 

"During the winter of 1S63-64 the Confederate and 
Union armies were encamped on the opposite sides of 
the Rapidan river for a long time," says General 
Gordon. "As spring approached preparations were 



GORDON ON THE WILDERNESS. 529 

made for a new campaign. On one or two occasions 
General Lee had almost decided to cross the stream, 
take the offensive, and endeavor to turn General Grant's 
flank. But before the plans for the movement had 
been perfected, General Grant crossed the Rapidan 
with the evident purpose of turning our flank and 
throwing his force between us and Richmond, the goal 
of his ambition. This movement brought on the battle 
of the Wilderness. 

"Our troops moved by the plank road and the old turn- 
pike, two highways running down from Orange Court- 
House in the direction of the Rapidan river. We col- 
lided at a point just before we reached the Brock road, 
and the two forces immediately began the combat. 

"The meeting here can hardly be called a general 
engagement It was a series of small battles of neces- 
sity on account of the nature of the ground. Artillery 
could not be used with any effect, and cavalry was use- 
less except for scouting far off. It was a battle of small 
arms without any imposing manoeuvres or feeling 
advances. It was an open combat, not in the sense 
of being an open field, but on account of the absence 
of breastworks or other protections. 

" It was almost a hand-to-hand conflict, and again 
and again the bayonet was used. The underbrush 
was from four feet to eight feet high, often tall enough 
to cover a man on horseback. It was almost impossible 
to see any great distance in any direction. The lines 
in moving frequently came in contact without either 
force being aware of the presence of the other, except 
as the skirmishers would tell their story^ of the im- 
pending danger by an occasional shot. It was one 
of those peculiar combats where the personal heroism 
and judgment of the individual soldier had to be 



21 



630 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

relied upon. It was impossible to march a consecu 
tive line. The men could not g-et throuorh the brush 
except by breaking line, or make headway among the 
stunted pine, oak, thorn bushes, and dense under- 
growth that filled the place like a hedge, 

" it was in such a field as this that that great clash 
of small arms took place. It is easy to describe a 
o-eneral engagement on such open, broad battle-fields 
as they have in Europe, where the forces are nearly 
always in sight, but in the thickets of the Wilderness 
each soldier can tell a new story of the contest. On the 
left of our line, where my command was engaged, the 
success was generally with us. The fighting was fully 
as severe on the right, probably harder, where Long- 
street was. The mortality was perhaps greatest on our 
left and on the Federal right. 

" The battle of the Wilderness was a succession of 
advances, retreats, and apparent victory on one side or 
the other for two days. On the 5th the fight was less 
bloody than that of the 6th, when the engagement was 
terrific in its intensity and deadly in its results. In 
the afternoon of the 6th the pressure upon Longstreet 
was very severe and tliis officer was badly wounded. 
In the evening of that day General Lee directed that I 
should make a movement by which he intended to 
relieve the right of his line. On the 5th of May, 
when our troops were bn^ken on the plank road by 
General Grant's advance, my command was bringing up 
the rear. Ewell had been hotly engaged before I came 
up and Warren had thrown his divisions upon him so 
impetuously that he had lost his position. At this crisis 
he came riding up to me and said: 

" ' We are badly broken and the fate of the day de- 
pends upon you.' 



GORDON ON THE WILDERNESS. 531 

" I formed my troops, made a countercharge, advancing 
in echelon, and restored our hne. During that night 
of the 5th I was ordered to move my command to the 
extreme left, and see that General Grant's lines did not 
overlap my left. 

" Early on the morning of the 6th I sent out my scouts, 




GENERAL SEDGWICK. 

who reported that Sedgwick's corps was lying in a body 
of heavy timber and underbrush, apparently unprotected, 
I reported the fact to my immediate superior, with the 
request that I be allowed to attack. He did not take 
my view of the situation and it was not until late in the 
afternoon that I was allowed to move ; then General Lee 



nJ?2 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

came himself and gave the order to attack. I moved 
out quickl)-. formed across Sedgwick's tiank, and made 
what some New York paper, I think the Herald, desig- 
nated as 'a most helHsh attack.' I struck Sedgwick 
with all the force and vigor I could, capturing Generals 
Shaler and Seymour, a great number of prisoners, and 
broke the Sixth corps to pieces just as darkness put an 
end to the conflict. If I had been allowed to make the 
same move in the morning I am satisfied that we should 
have inflicted a great disaster upon General Grant's 
army. The plan was to have each of our divisions, as 
my movement should clear their front, wheel into the 
column of attack, thus giving to the onset, as we sw^ept 
down Grant's flank, an increasing volume too strong to 
be resisted. But, as I have said, when I was through 
with Sedgwick, night put an end to the assault. It was 
a o-reat victory as far as it went, but it stopped far short 
of what it might have been. It put an end to the 
struggle and changed the plans of both generals. 

"All night long and early on the morning of the 7th I 
was constantly getting reports of General Grant's re- 
treat across the Rapidan. The same morning General 
Lee came to my head-quarters and we rode over the 
field together. While we were looking at the situation 
of the troops and the results of the previous night's 

fiehtins:, I said : 

" ' General Lee, how much has General Grant been 
hurt on other portions of the line?' 

" ' Not very seriously,' was his reply. 

" ' ]\Iy scouts,' said I. ' report General Grant as re- 
treating.' 

•• ' Yes,' said he ; ' so do mine.' 

"Then for a time he remained silent, making no 
comments upon what had passed or was passing. He 



GORDON ON THE WILDERNESS. 533 

was a man of very few words. Presently I renewed the 
conversation, saying : 

" ' You say, general, your scouts report General Grant 
as moving back,* 

" ' Yes,' was his only response. 

"'Well,' said I, 'mine make the same report. What 
do you think of it ? ' 

'"General Grant is not moving back,' he replied. 

*' 'Why do you think so, general ? ' said I. 

" * General Grant ought not to move back, and I am 
so certain that he is not going to and that this move- 
ment from the field is a mere feint, that I have had a 
short road cut from this point to Spottsylvania Court- 
House, to which point I think he will move next, and 
you will get your command immediately in readiness 
and move by that road to-night,' was his reply. 

" In accordance with this order I advanced on the 7th 
at dark by this newly-cut road. Very soon after reaching 
Spottsylvania, the next morning, the fighting began with 
Grant's advance. This demonstrated that General Lee, 
who was a ereat militarv genius, knew Grant too well to 
believe that he was going to abandon his purpose to take 
Richmond. Anderson reached Spottsylvania before I 
did and he had the same experience, except that he be- 
gan the fight with Grant's advance. He had been or- 
dered to bivouac and move on the morning of the 8th, 
but, the woods being on fire, he started early on the 
night of the 7th and beat Grant's troops into the Court- 
House. Rodes, if I mistake not, was also there when 
my troops got up, and all were body engaged, the F'ed- 
erals showing a strong front. It is evident that Gen- 
eral Lee put himself in Grant's place and reasoned : 

•"If I were Grant I would move to Spottsylvania. 
What he ou^ht to do he is Cfoing to do.' 



534 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" It is certain, I think, that this was General Lee's 
opinion of Grant. I never heard General Lee com- 
ment upon General Grant. He never did upon any- 
body. But there were some commanders in the Union 
army that General Lee did not seem to have a very 
high opinion of. When they were in control of tlie 
troops on the other side he would expose his flanks and 
move around in almost any direction and in a most care- 
less manner. He never did that after Grant took com- 
mand. He may have gathered his opinion of General 
Grant's character and capacity by studying his opera- 
tions in the West. It was frequently remarked by the 
Confederate generals who were commanding the corps 
of Lee's army, that when General Grant came East Gen- 
eral Lee began a series of movements, inspections of 
his position, and operated with a great deal more care 
than had been his habit ; for, with all his reputation for 
caution. General Lee was a very daring man. It is im- 
possible to get General Lee's estimate of General 
Grant except from such circumstances as I have recited, 
and this furnishes a more striking evidence of his view 
of the Union commander than any other circumstance 
of which I have any knowledge. 

" Looking at it judicially and speaking of it from a 
historic standpoint, I should say that we came as near 
having an absolutely drawn battle in the Wilderness as 
was ever known in the war. We gained advantages 
here and there, and so did the Federals; but, taking the 
whole of the two days' fighting, both maintained at the 
end about the same positions that they did at the be- 
ginning, with only inroads here and there. The gen- 
eral direction of the lines was about the same on the 
night of the yth as on the 5th. When we w^ithdrew, 
fearful as the battle had been, both armies were in about 



GORDON ON THE WILDERNESS. .535 

the snme relative conditions and in about the same spirit 
for a renewal of hostilities. 

" The Confederate army, when we entered that cam- 
pai_2;"n, was in the highest spirits. The year previous we 
had gained some important victories, which left our army 
in superb fighting trim. We were better supplied with 
rations, the men were in fine health and as full of ardor 
at the close of the Wilderness battle as they were when 
Grant crossed the Rapidan to the attack with as fine an 
army as was ever gathered. Nor do I think it probable 
that either General Grant or his troops were discouraged 
by the drawn combat in the woods. Both armies marched 
to their new position at Spottsylvania Court-House, 
after two days of fighting, as eager for batde as when 
thev entered the Wilderness. General Grant's forces 
had evidently been improved by the fact that had been 
made manifest to them in the Wilderness, that they were 
now under a commander who had that high degree of 
moral courage, as well as the tenacity, to follow his plan 
of campaign without flinching — qualities so necessary to 
success." 

The famous Confederate generars estimate of the 
situation prior to Spottsylvania is a correct one. While 
both Union troops and Confederate troops had learned 
to place their opponents upon a somewhat higher plane, 
neither were discouraged by the results of the Wilder- 
ness fight. It had been a hard and close struggle : it 
had been attended with great loss of life ; and yet it 
brought discouragement to neither side. Hard as the 
conflict had been, there had been gained no decisive 
advantage, and this was almost a victory for both con- 
testants. The advance which Grant had made possible 
had been dearly bought ; the temporary check which the 
Confederates had secured had been procured at as dear 



636 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

a price. Lee's audacity in the forward movement had 
met with great opposition and it had partialis succeeded ; 
but. after all, the fmal result was, for the men, only a 
mutual respect for each other's fightinq- qualities. They 
had made the test, hand to hand and toot to foot. They 
had discovered that American mettle was as good no 
matter on which side of the line it had been produced. 
Each felt that the final task would be the greater because 
of the experience in the Wilderness. 

This battle will always be unique in war history. It 
will always be a cause for discussion among those who 
will be future authorities on military matters. The final 
judgment will probably be that it was born of shrewd 
desperation on one side in a fierce struggle against the 
inevitable. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

OUT OK THE WILDERNESS. 

Lee foiled — The army satisfied with Grant — Flank march to Spottsylvania — War- 
ren's night march — Miscarriage of plans — Grant's practised ear — Pulling his army 
through itself — Sheridan's tight at Todd's tavern — Butler lands at City Point — 
Still '• On to Richmond." 

The Union scouts who went over the battle-field of 
the Wilderness, Saturday, May 7th, returned with the 
report that the enemy had retired. Attacked, driven 
back at points, and in the end foiled, Lee had failed to 
pick up the gauntlet thrown down by his new opponent, 
three days before. 

The army still lay facing- toward Richmond, and when 
Grant and his staff, between Saturday and Sunday, rode 
through the bivouacs of the Second corps to fix his head- 
quarters farther along on the road towards the enemy's 
capital, the sleeping regiments rose from their fires to 
follow him with their cheers. 

Officers as well as men had but a very few days before 
received him coldly, and there was apparent a bit of 
jealousy, that a Western man should be put over the tried 
and trained officers of one of the proudest armies that 
was ever marshalled. To be sure, its successes had not 
been numerous, or its rewards great, but every man 
believed implicitly in its courage and ability as well as 
in the capacity of most of its officers. Defeat never 
disheartened it, and retreat never marred its confidence 
in final triumph. After either it simply felt regret and 
was then willing and anxious " to pick the flint and try 



538 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

it aofain." So too it never lost faith in its ofeneral, and 
as each one failed the earnest men transferred their hope 
and confidence to the next appointed to lead them. 

The first two days' fight under the lieutenant-general 
had served to change the tinge of disappointment, that 
was manifest when he assumed command, to one of ap- 
probation, if not of real satisfaction. The delicate move- 
ment had begun which told both officers and men that 
the army was now to go forward rather than backward. 
Then the weary men notified the new commander of 
their impression of him in unstinted applause. As he 
turned his horse toward the Confederate capital, the 
huzzahs of the Second corps were taken up along the 
whole line, until the cheers of the Union men were an- 
swered by the thunder of the enemy's guns. 

In the movements which were to culminate in the 
charge at Spottsylvania, Grant had determined ro 
reverse the wings of the army. Warren, at the Wilder- 
ness, was in the advance and at first on the extreme right. 
At Spottsylvania he was on the left, and Hancock was on 
the right. The Army of the Potomac, in short, was 
pulled within itself, as a stocking is reversed by pulling 
it through from the toe. While the movements of Sat- 
urday and Sunday were in progress, the troops lay spread 
in converging lines moving toward Spottsylvania, with 
the outposts of the Second corps, drawn from General 
Barlow's division, facing the rear toward the point from 
which the enemy was expected. The duty had its special 
peril and responsibility. The dispositions were made, 
and, just at nightfall. Colonel Beaver, who was corps 
officer of the day, left his outposts and rode to Hancock's 
head-quarters for his final instructions. It was growing 
dark. He found there General Grant, and now gives 
this interesting incident of the meeting: 




SHoWlNc; 



FROM lllE RAPIDAN TO THE T-VMFS 
THE WILDERNESS. CHANCELLOR-Vll^LE, SPOi T^YLVANIA. ETC. 



(539) 



o4U LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"Stuart, whose cavalry was spread out before Early's 
advance, preparing the way for it, liad just reached the 
picket lines of the Second corps as I rode up. Furious 
hring" began and the group quickly scattered. General 
Hancock, with the quick impulse of a commander who 
puslied to the front when hghting began, made ready 
to ride forward. The head-quarters were all astir with 
the excitement of what might be coming battle. The 
moment was one of all others which Lee might take 
to fling his army on tlie exposed Second corps. Of 
all the group, General Grant was the only man un- 
moved. The little incident was, in its way, an apt 
comment on the wide difference between the habitual 
impulses of the brilliant corps commander, and the 
cool thinking of a man, chief in the art as well as the 
onset of war. 

" ' Hold on, Hancock,' said General Grant, in that 
quiet, inflectionless tone which in every moment of ex- 
citement steadied the nerves of men about him, and now 
stopped the stir as he sat quietly at the foot of a tree 
smoking. 

"Listening, without movincr he said, 'That firinor is 
only on one side. There is nothing in it. It is simply 
a ruse to conceal some movement.' 

"The practised ear of Grant, the extraordinary skill 
with which he measured distances and interpreted the 
rolling thunders of battle, I found well demonstrated 
when I regained the picket line. He had accurately 
judged aright the distant firing which came rumbling 
across the tree-tops from the picket line, up to the high 
ground on which the corps head-quarters were pitched." 

The need and peril ot the situation were not over until 
loner hours after this incident. All night and all of 
Sunday morning the tlivisions of the different corps were 



OUT OF THE WILDERNESS. 541 

falling into line and following the advancing army, each 
corps marching in the rear of those left on the line, 
drawing in their pickets as they departed. It was 
Grant's intention to seize all the strong positions about 
Spottsylvania, and Hancock was to follow Warren aloni^ 
the Brock road. Sedgwick and Burnside were to go 
by the way of Chancellorsvillc and Piney Branch church, 
while Sheridan was to look out for the exposed flank ot 
the moving army. 

The two armies moved almost simultaneously. The 
route Grant took to Spottsylvania lay through a stretch 
of wild country for something more than fifteen miles. 
The Confederate line of march to that place being 
considerably shorter, there must have been something 
tiie matter with Lee's information, for on the 8th he 
directed Early, who had been placed in command of 
Hill's corps, "to move by Todd's tavern," along the 
Brock road to Spottsylvania Court- House, as soon as 
his front was clear of the enemy. Then he telegraphed 
to Richmond that Grant had abandoned his position and 
was moving off toward Fredericksburg. He also nodfied 
his Government that his advance was at Spottsylvania. 
Grant's plan was to take possession of all the strong posi- 
tions about the Court-House before Lee could discover 
his purpose. Sheridan's bout with Stuart Saturday after- 
noon, as well as Anderson's hasty move by night to Spott- 
sylvania, where he had been directed to march in the morn- 
ing, thwarted his plans and imposed upon him the neces- 
sity of quickly devising some new movement against his 
able and stubborn adversary. This is the view Lee's de- 
spatches would give of his want of reliable information 
as to Grant's movements. But there is good testimony 
that, while he did not know Grant's purposes, he had 
such a high opinion of him as a soldier that he thought 



542 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

he would move to Spottsylvania, and that very night 
ordered Gordon to move to that point and intercept 
him. 

The accid(,'nts of the night had been numerous. 
Sheridan's cavalry had been marching and fighting con 
tinuously for several days, and only closed the engage- 
ment at Todd's tavern on the evening of the 7th after 
dark. Then orders were given for its advance at 
daylight, Wilson to take the Fredericksburg road and 
occupy the Court-House. Gregg and Merritt were also 
to move at dawn, crossing the river Po ; thus securing 
possession of the bridges over the Ny and Po, and 
taking possession of all the avenues of approach to 
Spottsylvania. But, before Sheridan's orders reached 
his division commanders, Meade had at midnight sent 
Gregg and Merritt, whose camp he had come upon at 
Todd's tavern, in different directions, and, when Wilson, 
reaching the Ny, took possession of the bridge and 
moved on to make his junction with Merritt and Gregg 
at Snell's bridge, he was disturbed by heavy firing 
towards Todd's tavern, and soon found himself behind 
Confederate infantry. Meanwhile, Gregg was watching 
the cross-roads at Parker's store, and Merritt was tangled 
up with Warren's advance along the Brock road. This 
unfortunate miscarriage of plans left all the approaches 
to Spottsylvania open to the Confederates, and they 
crossed the Po without opposition. 

Although Warren's corps had marched all night and 
had had a running fight since dawn, he struck Gordon's 
and Anderson's force behind breastworks with great 
vigor and established his line within easy range of the 
enemy. Grant took a rude breakfast by the roadside ; 
then moved his head-quarters to Piney Branch church, 
where Sedirwick had alreadv arrived. As soon as the 



OUT OF THE WILD RR NESS. 543 

real situation was reported to him, he ordered a part ot 
Sedgwick's command to Warren's support, and finally 
the whole Sixth corps, with the hope of destroying 
Anderson before reinforcements could conie up. There 
was delay getting the troops in position, and, although 
late in the afternoon there was some severe fighting, no 
important results were secured, and at nightfall Lee had 
^rasped Grant's intentions, concentrated his army around 
Spottsylvania, and the desperate difficulties of the Wilder- 
ness were again before the Federal commander. 

'Twas the afternoon of the yth of May when Grant or- 
dered the movement that brought him about Spottsylva- 
nia. But a few hours before a message from Washington 
had brought intellicrence that General Butler had landed 
his whole force at City Point, and that General Sherman 
expected to engage Johnston in the Southwest that very 
daw The report that the enemy had entireh' disap- 
peared from his front, as well as the intelligence ot 
Butler's success, were the moving causes of the order for 
the night's march to Spottsylvania. Sheridan's fight at 
Todd's tavern in the afternoon was to open a road for 
Warren's corps ; which was to take the advance, as in the 
Wilderness, and it took up the line of march toward 
the new position as soon as the mantle of darkness had 
settled over the scene of the last three days' fighting. 

It was still later when Grant reached the Brock road, 
where Hancock's weary men lay. With difficulty he 
picked his way among the troops whose fighting quali- 
ties had so impressed him, and who had so suddenly 
shown their appreciation of his determination to " on to 
Richmond." 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

AT SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE. 

Nearer Richmond — Playing for position — Position of the two armies before the 
fight — Sedgwick's death — Crossing the Po — General Barlow's division in danger 
— Turning the enemy's flank — Hancock's description of the withdrawal — Upton's 
gallantry — Failure of Warren's and Wright's attack — Grant and Meade review 
the onset — Grant's disajipointment — Magnificent manoeuvring — Grant's determi- 
nation — •' I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." 

So it happened that the Army of the Potomac had 
failed, when the movements which began on Saturday 
night were over, to occupy the favorable positions about 
Spottsylvania. Instead, it had forced Lee from his first 
position, brought him nearer Richmond, and lay an irreg- 
ular crescent, about the heights around the cross-roads at 
the court-house, which Stuart seized on Saturday, and Gor- 
don and Anderson, of Ewell's corps, had filled with their 
troops the next day. Early, at the other end of Lees 
army, had later been swung, by the position of Hancock's 
corps, from the ridge road, which ran north of the Po, to 
the roads running on the ridge south, and the broad fiat 
plain, through which this sluggish stream ran. lay debat- 
able ground between the two armies up to a wooden 
bridge, where the Po turned to fiow around the heights 
of Spottsylvania. The bridge was held by the Confed- 
erates in force, as one of the approaches to their posi- 
tion. In short, two commas, mutually inverted, (c-") would 
give rudely the shape of the two armies. The lower 
comma is Lee's line, bunched at Spottsylvania. the upper 
Grant's, with the Second corps at the comma head, the 
Po running diagonally in the space between. The lay 

(644) 



AT SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE. 645 

of the land was most unfavorable for a battle-field. 
Lee's army occupied an elevated position on the crest 
of a ridge, well protected by earthworks and abatis. 
The country all about was heavily wooded, with here 
and there a piece of low land between the two forces, 
well protected with artillery. Heavy growth of tangled 
underbrush added to the obstacles which lay before the 
Federal approach, and in a greater degree than in the 
Wilderness gave the Confederates the advantages of 
position. 

Monday, May 9th, was a most important day in the 
history of the Army of the Potomac, and a deep black 
line will ever be drawn around the page of history that 
tells of that day's sad work. To be sure, the fighting 
was not anything like as severe as that which had taken 
place or was yet to come; but one man died from a gun- 
shot wound whose takinof off Grant felt cost him the 
force of a division of his army. The work of strength- 
ening the general position of the force was going on. 
General John Sedgwick was with his staff along the 
front of his line superintending the posting of some ar- 
tillery. Now and then a stray shot from the rifle of a 
sharpshooter whizzed through the air, causing some of 
the men near him to shrink from the danger. He made 
light of their fears, and with the exclamation still on his 
lips, " They can't hit an elephant at this distance," the 
bullet of a sharpshooter struck him just below the eye 
on the left side of his face, killin-j;- him instantly. He 
was raised up by tender hands, and with a smile upon 
his countenance, discolored with blood, was carried to 
the rear. The news of his death spread through the 
army like wildfire, and in every bivouac there was sor- 
rowing. In the old Sixth corps, that loved him as a 
parent, and had followed him in many baptisms of fire, 



646 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

there was hardly a dry eye. To Grant his loss meant a 
great deal, for he was a thorough soldier and a skilful 
general. He was quiet, modest, generous, courageous 
without bravado, and a commander equal to any emer- 
gency that had ever come upon him. Although Wright, 
who succeeded him, was a splendid officer and made 
much reputation with the " old wall of iron," the corps 
never lost its love for John Sedgwick, and the survivors 
still revere his memory. 

On the day Sedgwick died General Barlow's division 
was spread across the Po, and, after what proved to be hot 
fighting on Tuesday, the loth, was withdrawn with heavy 








fe-f«^K? 



THE PLACE WHERE SEDGWICK WAS KILLED. 

losses. In its relations to the general operations of the 
army, this seems to have been a tentative flank movement 
on the left of the Confederate position, resulting only in an 
opportunity for the display of high courage by the Union 
forces. This developed into an advance in force by two 
divisions, which forded the Po above the wooden bridge, 
and then, pushing across diagonally, reached the same 
stream a^ain below the bridge, which spanned the river 
at the bend already mentioned. 

The movement began at dusk, Monday evening. The 
stream, a " run," with slippery, muddy banks, was waist- 



I 



AT SFOTTSYL VAN/A COURT-HOUSE. 547 

deep, and die opposite bank was held by a force of 
cavalry and lio^ht artillery, distantly supported by the 
intrenched force at the wooden bridge. The advance 
brushed it away, however, and soon two divisions 
were safely across the stream. Thus the Second corps 
was established on both sides of the Po, above the 
wooden bridge, with the river below the bridge — owing 
to its sharp bend — direcdy before the Union advance. 
The sharp and heavy fighting of the next day, Tuesday, 
May loth, turned upon the advance in force of three 
divisions of Lee's army, Field's, Mahone's, and Heth's, 
upon the two brigades of Barlow's division, left when 
the rest of the Second corps was withdrawn to the north 
bank of the river. 

The thick woods, the underbrush, narrow roads, and 
tortuous paths, made advance impossible in the dark, 
Monday evening. A reconnoissance at sunrise, on Tues- 
day, showed that the Confederates were there in force, 
and, instead of attacking the position in front. General 
Brooke's brigade was pushed forward to attempt the 
passage of the Po below the wooden bridge, while a 
small detachment forded and felt the enemy's position, 
which consisted of strong earthworks, occupied by artil- 
lery and infantry. No crossing was made in force, and 
the brigade remained until afternoon in open positions. 
Meanwhile General Grant had determined to assault the 
enemy's position in the centre, and wished to avoid a 
o-eneral eng-aofement on the south of the Po, at the ex- 
treme right of the army of the Potomac. General Lee, 
however, who appreciated the serious danger in which 
this turning movement of the Second corps put his 
army, detached three divisions to drive back its brigades 
in the advance. Two of Hancock's divisions — Birney's 
and Gibbon's — recrossed about noon. This left General 



548 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Barlow's division to execute its retreat a little later, just 
as the overwhelming force of the enemy was pushing 
forward to retake his position at all hazards, for he had 
really turned the left of the enemy's line. 

The successive steps in this retreat are thus described 
by General Hancock, who superintended the movement 
in person : 

"When I directed General Barlow to commence re- 
tiring his command, he recalled Brooke's and Brown's 
brigades, and formed them on the right of Miles' and 
Smyth's brigades, on a wooded crest, in the rear of the 
Block House road, about one hundred paces in the rear 
of the line of breastworks. As soon as Brooke's and 
Brown's brigades had occupied this position. Miles and 
Smyth were ordered to retire to the crest in front of our 
bridges on the south side of the Po. Here they formed 
in line of batde, throwing up hasdly a light line of 
breastworks of rails and such other materials as they 
could collect on the ground. In a few minutes they 
were prepared to resist the enemy, should he overpower 
Brooke and Brown, and attempt to carry the bridges. 
I directed that all the batteries on the south side of the 
river, save Arnold's A. First Rhode Island battery, 
should cross to the north bank and take position com- 
manding the bridges. These disposidons had scarcely 
been completed, when the enemy, having driven in the 
skirmishers of Brooke's and Brown's brigades, pressed 
forward and occupied the breastworks in front of them; 
then, advancing in line of batde, supported by columns, 
they attacked with great vigor and determination, but 
were met by a heavy and destructive fire, which com- 
pL-Ued them to fall back at once in confusion, with severe 
losses in killed and wounded. 

" Encouraged, doubdess, by the withdrawal o{ Miles* 



AT SFOTl'SYLVANIA CO UR 7'- I/O USE. 



549 



and Smyth's brigades from our front line, which it is 
supposed they mistook for a forced retreat, they re- 
formed their troops and again assaulted Brooke's and 
Brown's bricrades. The combat now became close and 




GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK. 



bloody. The enemy, in vastl)' superior numbers, flushed 
with the anticipation of an easy victory, appeared to be 
determined to crush the small force opposing them, and 
pressing forward with loud yells, forced their way close 



550 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

up to our lines, delivering a terrible musketry fire as 
they advanced. Our brave troops again resisted their 
onset with undaunted resolution ; their fire along the 
whole line was so continuous and deadly that the enemy 
found it impossible to withstand it, and broke again and 
retreated in the wildest disorder, leaving the ground in 
our front strewed with dead and wounded. During the 
heat of this contest the woods on the right and rear of 
our troops took fire; the flames had now approached 
close to our lines, rendering it almost impossible to 
retain our position longer. 

"The last bloody repulse of the enemy had quieted 
them for a time, and, during this lull in the fight, General 
Barlow directed Brooke and Brown to abandon their 
positions and retire to the north bank of the Po — their 
right and rear being enveloped in the burning wood, 
their front assailed by overwhelming numbers of the 
enemy. This withdrawal of the troops was attended 
with great difficulty and peril ; but the movement was 
commenced at once, the men displaying such coolness 
and steadiness as is rarely exhibited in the presence of 
dangers so appalling. It seemed, indeed, that these 
gallant soldiers were devoted to destruction. The 
enemy, seeing that our line was retiring, again advanced, 
but was again prompdy checked by our troops, who fell 
back through the burning forest with admirable order 
and deliberation, though in doing so many of them were 
killed and wounded — numbers of the latter perishing in 
the flames. One section of Arnold's battery had been 
pushed forward by Captain Arnold, during the fight, to 
within a short distance of Brooke's line, where it had 
done effective service. When ordered to retire, the 
horses attached to one of die pieces, becoming terrified 
by th<> fire and unmanageable, dragged the gun between 



AT SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE. 551 

t\vo trees, where it became so firmly wedged that it 
could not be moved. Every exertion was made by 
Captain Arnold and some of the infantry to extricate 
the gun, but without success. They were compelled to 
abandon it. This was the first gun ever lost by the 
Second corps. 

" Brooke's brio-ade, after emerorinir from the wood, 
had the open plain to traverse between the Block 
House road and the Po. This plain was swept by the 
enemy's musketry in front, and their artillery on the 
heights above the Block House bridge, on the north 
side of the river. 

" Brown's brigade, in retiring, was compelled to pass 
through the entire woods in its rear, which was burning 
furiously, and, although under a heavy fire, it extricated 
itself from the forest, losing very heavily in killed and 
wounded." 

Such was the general scope of these dangerous 
movements, and while they were being made, the enemy 
were pluming themselves on having driven the Federals 
out of their intrenchments, and the Confederate generals 
published congratulatory orders to their troops. While 
all this was going on. Grant's plans for an attack in 
force were being executed by Warren and Wright. 
About the only result, however, of this movement was 
to engage the Confederates so as to make it possible for 
Barlow to recross the Po. But later in the day Grant 
decided to make a general assault, and the Fifth and 
Sixth corps, together with Burnside's on the extreme 
left, were pushed vigorously forward. But at almost 
every point the enemy was found to be in strong torce, 
and the day's results were not significant. Burnside had 
pushed to within a half mile of the Court-House, but 
becoming isolated from the rest of the army, he was 



552 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

withdrawn later in tlie day. Colonel Upton, of the 
Hundred-and-twentieth New York, led a storming party 
of twelve regiments of Wright's command, and achieved 
a success. He led his men with matchless heroism over 
all sorts of obstacles up a hill, breaking the enemy's lines, 
capturing a battery of artillery and a brigade of infantry. 
Without stopping he pushed on until victory seemed to 
be in hand ; but want of success before Warren and 
Hancock forced Grant to withdraw Upton, as the Fifth 
corps was obliged to fall back after having carried the 
enemy's breastwork. 

The movements and countermovements of the two 
armies up to this time were magnificent scenes of the 
shifting uncertainties of attack and repulse. Both Grant 
and Lee had lost men and disturbed plans in seeking 
vantage points without accomplishing more than to make 
prominent the fact that two giants in the game of ma- 
noeuvre and strike were confronting each other. Lee 
was better satisfied than Grant. He had thwarted his 
adversary's plans and secured the best in the way of 
positions. Grant was seriously disappointed with the 
miscarriage of his original design to secure Spottsylvania 
and its advantages, as well as the inability of his forces 
to make more of their onset against the enemy's better 
position. His feelings may be better imagined than 
described as he rode back with Meade after witnessing 
the failure of his soldiers to break Lee's lines or secure 
any other advantage of importance. General Badeau 
gives this description of the terrific assault which Grant 
viewed in the evening of that May day : 

"The point of attack was a densely-wooded hill in 
front of Warren, its crest crowned with earthworks, and 
the entire front swept by cross and enfilading fires of 
musketry and artillery. The approach was rendered 








'iiii!;ii|i'f iiiiiiii'h 



.^^mm. 














-OOo) 



554 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

stiil more hazardous by a heavy growth of low cedar 
trees, most of them dead, the long bayonet-like branches 
of which, interlaced and pointing in all directions, pre- 
sented an almost impassable barrier. 

" Grant and Meade took position on an elevated pla- 
teau opposite the hill to watch the battle ; but here, as 
in the Wilderness, the woods prevented them from ob- 
serving in detail the progress of the fight. All they 
could discern was the wooded ridge in the background, 
the swamp at its base covered with underbrush, and 
nearer still the lines of the troops about to enter the 
thicket. A curtain of cloud and smoke hung over the 
valley, reddened by the afternoon sun, or rent by occa- 
sional flashes of artillery. The shouts of command and 
the cries of the wounded could be heard, until the pre- 
liminary rattle of musketry rose into the roar of a general 
engagement, and then came the echoes of the cheers as 
the troops rushed into the charge. Across the open 
plain, through reaches of wood, through depths of swamp, 
the lines of the battalions struggled forward under a 
fearful fire, until they were lost to view in the jungle and 
the smoke of batde. Only the wounded came contin- 
ually staggering out of the cloud ; then followed a few 
moments of anxious expectation, of straining eyes and 
ears to catch some indication of the event, while the 
troops pressed on and up within the woods, until at one 
or two points they mounted the enemy's breastworks. 
But their greeting was too terrible; they stood for a 
moment on the cr(\st, then wavered and fell back, disor- 
dered by the enfilading fire on either side. As they re- 
treated the dry woods burst into a blaze, and numbers 
of the wounded were burned alive. The enemy, how- 
ever, made no pretence to follow, and the troops reoccu- 
pied the ground they had held before the assault." 



AT SPOTTSYLVANTA COURT-HOUSE. 555 

All of the following day, the iith, was one of com- 
parative rest for the wearied troops, unaccustomed to 
such long-continued struggles. Yet Grant kept touching 
and feeling here and there, with regiments, brigades, and 
divisions, Lee's whole line, until, in the afternoon, he dis- 
covered the master-key to the position. This was the 
point just to the right of Lee's centre, held by Ewell's 
corps of hard fighters, where the line of earthworks 
make a protruding salient like an inverted and rather 
depressed V. 

This salient abutted on a low crest that rose in an 
easy slope from the stream, and was flanked on the left 
front by a swam.py stretch that seemed to forbid the 
passage of troops. Here Grant determined to break 
Lee's line, and selected Hancock, with the Second corps, 
to do it. While the day was one of rest to the troops, 
it was one of unresting activity to General Grant, who, 
by four o'clock, summoned Meade and the corps com- 
manders to a conference, when he explained in full his 
plans for the ensuing day, and preparations were at 
once begun for the fearful struggle of the morrow. 
During the whole time since leaving Culpepper, Hon. 
E. B. Washburne, then a prominent representative in 
Congress, had accompanied General Grant, but this 
eveninewas just leaving for WashinQ^ton. While in the 
saddle and about to ride off, Mr. Washburne asked 
General Grant if he had any message to send to Presi- 
dent Lincoln or the Secretary of War. Grant asked 
him to wait a moment, and turning to his tent wrote the 
famous despatch, of which one line electrified the 
country then, and is familiar now all over the world. 
The despatch, addressed to " Major-General Halleck, 
Chief-of-Staff of the Army," reads as follows: 

" We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy 



556 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

fig'hting-. The result to this time is much in our favor, 
but our losses have been heavy as well as those of the 
enemy. We have lost to this time eleven general 
officers killed, wounded, and missing, and probably 
twenty thousand men. I think the loss of the enemy 
must be greater, we having taken over four thousand 
prisoners, while he has taken from us but few, except a 
few strasfsrlers. I am now sendincr back to Belle Plain 
all my wagons for a fresh supply of provisions and am- 
munition, and PROPOSE to fight it out on this line if 

IT TAKES ALL SUMMER." 



I 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

Hancock's famous charge. 

Grant plans the capture of the Confederate salient — Hancock to do the work — 
Plans for the assault — The midnight march — A straggling mule — Phantom sol- 
diers — A gloomy night — The Druid council — Massing for the assault — On to the 
charge — " Let silence, dead silence, be the awful menace, and break it only with 
the bayonet ! " — Pouring into the enemy's works — A hand-to-hand conflict — Cuns 
and prisoners — Holding the salient. 

It was Grant's plan to assault the enemy at daybreak, 
and his orders were given to the corps commanders 
with that end in view. To Hancock, with the Second 
corps, was assigned the attack at the salient, the objec- 
tive of the movement, and all that night was spent in 
preparation. Burnside was to strike simultaneously 
with Hancock's charge, so as to draw attention from the 
real object of the movement. 

The Ninth corps was on the left, far beyond Wright 
with the Sixth corps — Warren with the Fifth being be- 
yond Wright's other flank. Hancock was obliged to 
move past the rear of Warren and Wright to gain the 
ground in the gap of the line where his struggle was 
to be. 

Hancock was to move during the night to his new 
position, shielded by the darkness, and Grant wrote him, 
" I will send one or two staff officers over to-night to 
stay with Burnside, and impress him zuith the importance 
of a prompt and vigorous attack^ 

Mott's brigades of the corps were already on the 
ground to be occupied, but early that evening Hancock 
called all of his division commanders to him to explain 

(557) 



558 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in detail the plan for the morrow's battle. Latcr^ 
the division commanders, catchinof Hancock's dashino- 
ardor, called their brigade commanders together, and 
these ao^ain in turn consulted with regimental chiefs, so 
that when the movement began, between nine and ten 
o'clock that night, every man of responsible command, 
down to the leaders of companies and batteries, knew 
of the coming work and the part each was to perform 
in the perilous task. It was to reach far and quickly, 
and strike hard and fast when the time came. These 
instructions were carried out so well that the whole world 
knows now how perfect a general Grant was, and how 
ably he was aided that day by the officers and men who 
rushed upon the salient of Spottsylvania. 

It was early on the night of the 1 1 th of May when Han- 
cock assembled his division commanders and eave them 
their orders. He carefully explained the plan of attack, 
and spoke with earnestness upon the minutest detail of 
the march and assault. But important as was his council 
with his immediate subordinates, the consultations which 
followed between division and brigade, and between 
brio^ade and reofimental commanders, were no less 
dramatic and significant. The night was very dark, and 
the rain beat mercilessly down upon the unsheltered 
troops, whether they were in the tangled forest or the 
open field. It was between eight and nine o'clock when 
the brigade commanders of the First division of the 
Second corps were called by its commander. In a 
dense and gloomy forest, in a secluded spot cleared for 
the purpose, Barlow met his brigadiers — Brooke, Brown, 
Miles and Smyth. 

The desultory firing of the day had ceased. No 
sound came from the bivouacs where the weary men 
were snatching an hour's rest after the marching and 



HANCOCK'S, FAMOUS CHARGE. 659 

fierhtinof of the Wilderness. Barlow's division was hon- 
ored with a position of great peril and importance, and 
now his brigades were to be assigned to their work. 
The flickering light of a lantern shed its dim, uncertain 
rays over the dreary woods and on the little group 
huddled together in the dismal storm to map out the 
plan of the morrow's desperate business. By the lan- 
tern's faint, unsteady beam, now flaring its red glare 
upon a thoughtful face, almost beaten out by wind and 
rain, Barlow traced upon the moistened earth the plan 
ot the deadly assault. It was a rude map, but the brig- 
adiers followed each outline with eager eye, and when 
the Druid council w^as over, each understood the part he 
was to play, and hastened to his command to summon 
his colonels to a similar council. Brooke called his 
recrimental commanders and eave them their instructions 
for the charo-e. Not a orun was to be fired in the ad- 
vance. "Let silence — dead silence — be the awful men- 
ace!" said .Brooke, "and break it only with the bay- 
onet ! " 

Barlow's division was to take the lead of the Second 
corps in two lines of masses, Brooke's and Miles' 
brigades in the front, each regiment forming double 
column on the centre. The enemy lay strongly in- 
trenched in his Avorks, posted on an elevation, having 
all the advantage of position. The troops moved at 
about ten o'clock, and never did men start upon a march 
under circumstances more dispiriting. To the inky 
darkness of the night was added a chilling rain, the 
more depressing because it came in the shape ot a 
dense searching mist that wet to the skin, and left the 
men with the sensation of having been varnished with 
fresh mucilage. It covered the country with a tog, and 
made the woods and tangled forests throuijh which the 



-,(;<J LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

march had to be made doubly dismal and difficult to 
penetrate. F"rom eleven o'clock until nearly one in the 
morning the Second corps struggled over the difficult 
way, led by the unsteady light of a lantern which Colonel 
C. H. Morgan, Hancock's chief-of-staff. carried in his 
hand, far enough in advance of the head of the corps to 
keep it from reflecting the long line of gleaming guns 
which followed him. The story of that night's march 
of the Second corps cannot be pictured. Silendy the 
men struggled on over the tangled and tortuous path, 
followingr the elare of a candle. Now and then one 
would whisper beneath his breath a word to a comrade, 
or touch an elbow, to make sure he was there Not a 
loud word spoken or a noise made to show that an 
army corps was on its way to desperate work. At last 
the silent column halted and went into line. 

Many times during this weary, dangerous march 
around the balance of the army, in the face of the 
enemy, did the men of the Second corps give signifi- 
cant evidence of that admirable spirit, discipline and 
bravery, so jusdy the pride of its commander and so 
clearly the foundation and creation of its brilliant career. 
Hancock's orders were that perfect silence be main- 
tained during the march. Not a loud word was to be 
spoken by officer or man. The route lay within stone's- 
throw of the enemy's position. A loud word, the rattle 
of a camp ketde, or the shaking of a canteen might 
reveal the movement and give the enemy time to pre- 
pare for the attack, or, what was worse, to assault the 
moving corps in column and beat it back, if not destroy 
it. Everything the men carried that could make a noise 
was strapped close to the body, and the column moved 
as noiselessly as a well-ordered machine. 

The leadino- division had arrived at the point where 



HANCOCK'S FAMOUS CHARGE. 5<)1 

it was to oro into line when an incident occurred that 
strikingly illustrates the wonderful discipline and self- 
control of the men about to go into a battle. Colonel 
\V. P. Wilson, of General Hancock's staff, who was that 
night guiding the Third division oi the corps (Birney's), 
tells the story in graphic detail. Colonel Comstock, of 
Grant's staff, Colonel C. H. Morgan, Hancock's chief-of- 
staff and Captains Mitchell and Wilson, aides on the 
staff of the commander of the Second corps, had the 
day before located the line of march and point of assault, 
and of course all save Comstock played an important 
part in the events of that memorable night. 

Colonel Wilson's narrative proves how deeply even 
the troops were impressed with the importance of 
the movement. Barlow's division was going into po- 
sition and Birney's came to a halt. Suddenly, in the 
dense mist, man by man, like a procession of phantoms, 
the line began dissolving away down the hill, and staff 
officers and regiment and company officers were at once 
employed in bringing back these ghost-like fugitives. 
No sound was made, departing or returning, and it was 
not long before the line was again formed as noiselessly 
as it had slid away down the hill. A stray mule packed 
with intrenching tools had broken away from the man 
leading it while he slept. The animal was feeding about 
upon the slope, the spades and picks rattled together a 
bit, and the alert troops thought that the enemy had 
discovered their close presence, and was advancing. Yet, 
even in the demoralization of a stampede, no loud word 
was spoken ; the order for silence had been so firmly 
impressed on all, that even in such a moment all lips 
were mute. 

W^ien the divisions of the corps got into position, 
the men slept upon their arms, ready for their task. 

2L 



562 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

As the hour given for the assault arrived, the men 
were called to begin the most serious day's work of the 
war. A dense, penetrating fog hung over the scene of 
the cominor batde, and Hancock held back his men until 
the light grew stronger through the mist of the early 
morning. At 4.35 came the order to advance, and the 
troops of Barlow and Birney at once moved. Through 
the only clearing between the armies, up the rugged as- 
cent, facing without response a hot fire from the enemy's 
picket reserve, they broke through the enemy's out- 
posts and in an instant were in the rifle-pits on his skir- 
mish line. Not a shot had been fired from the Union 
troops. Barlow pressed on, Birney keeping pace with 
him. But the men were burning with enthusiasm, im- 
patient for the decisive clash. They were half way up 
the slope — almost on the enemy's works, and the valiant 
commander of the Second corps sat on his horse, sur- 
rounded by his staff, watching the steady swing of the 
troops up the sharp rise. 

A moment more, and, as the splendid veterans, thor- 
oughly disciplined and mindful of their strict orders for 
• silence, poured on, still without firing a shot, swung over 
the rifle-pits and skirmish line of the enemy, Hancock's 
enthusiasm could no longer be repressed, and he burst 
forth with " I know they will not come back ! They will 
not come back." 

It was a critical moment, when a second of wavering 
or break meant failure and defeat. The words ex- 
pressed his grand confidence in the men he had so often 
led and trusted in so well and thoroughly. Just here a 
new recriment, thinkino- that the victorv had already been 
won when the rifle-pits were taken, broke into a cheer. 
The fire had been lighted. The shouts ran through 
regiment after regiment, until the whole force was yel 



HANCOCK'S FAMOUS CHARGE. 563 

ling like mad, and soon they were dashing on the enemy 
at the double-quick. Down from'the Confederate works 
poured a galHng fire of musketry and grape and canister 
— a hot and deadly blast that tore great rents in the ad- 
vancing ranks. Stunned by the murderous fury of the 
sudden and continuous fire, the column wavered for an 
instant, only to rally with louder yells and accelerated 
pace for one of the bravest, bloodiest charges in the 
annals of war. On they rushed, the enemy raking them 
as they advanced, marking their pathway up with many 
killed and wounded. But the torn ranks closed as fast 
as the heroes fell, and when the crest of the slope had 
been reached, two whole divisions threw themselves at 
once upon the works. The pioneers had been placed 
along the front of the line, axes in hand. When the abatis 
was reached they quickly cut the timber away. Then the 
troops dragged it aside, poured through the lanes thus 
made, and, against a gallant and obstinate defence, 
hurled themselves fair upon the enemy. Now began 
one of the boldest and deadliest hand-to-hand combats 
of the war. With sword and bayonet our troops cut 
their way. W^ith sword and bayonet and hand-spike 
the Confederates replied, until, overborne by the fury of 
the assault, they broke and gave up the works to Han- 
cock's veterans. Old campaigners had never looked 
upon such a sight as they beheld when the enemy had 
been driven out. Dead and dying were heaped in 
piles. 

" In one litde spot," says General Brooke, upon whose 
authority the graphic details of this march and charge 
are given, " I saw sixty bodies lying, every one of them 
pierced with the bayonet." 

Not far off a Union and a Confederate soldier strug- 
gled, each with his bayonet fast in the other's body. 



564 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Captain Anderson, of the Fifty-third Pennsylvania, was 
felled by a Confederate cannoneer's hand-spike, and 
picked up for dead, though fortunately he recovered. 

General Grant, in his report of this engagement, 
says : 

" The eighth day of the battle closes, leaving between 
three thousand and four thousand prisoners in our hands 
for the day's work, including two general officers and 
over thirty pieces of artillery. The enemy are obstinate, 
and seem to have found their last ditch. We have lost 
no organization, not even that of a company, whilst we 
have destroyed and captured one division (Johnson's) 
and one brigade (Dole's) and one regiment entire of the 
enemy." 

General Badeau, in his " Military History of Ulysses 
S. Grant,'' says : 

" During the war the Confederates never made so im- 
portant and successful an assault as that of Hancock. 
on the I 2th of May. Indeed, they rarely attempted to 
assault fortified works, and never captured one when 
Grant was in the field." 

Hancock now pays this tribute to the gallantry of the 
men, and describes the pursuit after the works had been 
carried : 

" They rolled like an irresistible wave into the enemy's 
works, tearing away what abatis there was in front of 
the intrenchments with their hands, and carrying the 
line at all points in a few minutes, although it was des- 
perately defended. Barlow's and Birney's divisions 
entered almost at the same moment, striking the 
enemy's line at a sharp salient point, immediately in 
front of the Lendrum House ; a fierce and bloody fight 
ensued with bayonets and clubbed muskets ; it was 
short, however, and resulted in the capture of nearly 



HANCOCK'S FAMOUS CHARGE. 565 

4,000 prisoners of Johnson's division of Ewcll's corps, 
twenty pieces of artillery, with horses, caissons and ma- 
terial complete, several thousand stand of small arms, 
and upwards of thirty colors. Among the prisoners 
were Major-Gcneral Edward Johnson and Brigadier- 
General George H. Stuart, of the Confederate service. 
The enemy fled in great confusion and disorder, their 
loss in killed and wounded being unusually great. The 
interior of the intrenchments presented a terrible and 
ghasdy spectacle of dead, most of whom were killed by 
our men with the bayonet when they penetrated the 
works ; so thickly lay the dead at this point, that in 
many places the bodies were touching and piled upon 
each other." 

After taking the works the troops could not be held 
back, but pursued the fleeing enemy towards Spottsyl- 
vania Court-House, where they encountered a second 
line of formidable earthworks. The enemy, heavily re- 
inforced, beat back our wearied ranks to the first line of 
works, that had been so gloriously taken, and were now 
held in spite of spirited efforts to dislodge therji. 

Summing up his report of the day's fighting, Hancock 
says : 

"A cold, drenchinof rain descended durinof this battle, 
in which the troops were constantly under heavy and 
destructive musketry fire for nearly twenty hours. Our 
losses in killed and wounded were quite heavy, but we 
had inflicted a signal defeat upon the enemy. Ewell's 
corps of infantry was almost destroyed ; the celebrated 
'Stonewall brigade' was captured nearly entire. The 
losses of the enemy during the day, in killed, wounded 
and captured, must have amounted to at least ten thou- 
sand men." 

The main works had just been taken, when a Con- 



566 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

federate officer pushed through the struggHng troops to 
Colonel Beaver, of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth 
Pennsylvania, and said : 

*' I would like to surrender to an officer of rank. I 
am General Stuart." 

"What! " exclaimed Colonel Beaver, "are you 'Jeb' 
Stuart?" 

" No," replied the Confederate, " I am George H. 
Stuart." 

" I will accept your surrender. Where is your sword, 



sir .^ 



"Well," answered Stuart, in a melancholy tone of 
regret, not without a slight streak of the comic in it, 
"you all waked us up so early this morning that 1 didn't 
have time to get it on." 

A few words passed between the officers, Beaver tell- 
ine Stuart that he could not remain widi him, when a 
litde corporal of the Irish brigade, catching the situation, 
stepped up smartly, touched his hat, and said, in a full, 
round, rich brogue: 

" I'll take care of 'im, mineral." 

" Take him to General Brooke," said Beaver. 

And off the litde corporal marched for the rear, proud 
of his big pri?e. Brooke passed the Confederate briga- 
dier along to Hancock. 

Reaching the corps commander's head-quarters, Stuart 
was presented to Hancock, who recognized in him an 
old acquaintance. Always big-hearted, ever magnani- 
mous to the fallen foe, Hancock, as gende as he was 
brave, arose to meet the prisoner, and extended his hand. 

" Under the circumstances," exclaimed Stuart, drawing 
back and assuming an air of great dignity, " I must 
decline to give my hand." 

Quick as a flash, and in tones that showed how the 



HANCOCK'S FAMOUS CHARGE. 5(57 

cold rebuff had touched the great soldier, came the 
sharp retort : 

" Under any other circumstances, General Stuart, I 
should not have offered mine ! " 

General Ed Johnson, who was captured on another 
part of the line, behaved with far more dignity, and was 
seen talking with Hancock as the battle raged. Later, 
he met Grant and Meade, both of whom were old West 
Point friends. 

Day was just dawning as the crest of the national ad- 
vance broke on the Confederate works and flooded them. 
The swift movement had been successful along the line 
in front of General Brooke's brigade, whose commander 
had sprung on the works at one end of the line, cov- 
ered by the two brigades of the First division, just as 
he saw one of his colonels leap on the works at the 
other end. " The first I knew," says a general staff 
officer who was following the line of battle just in its 
rear, "was the prisoners boiling over on me, and 1 had 
my hands full taking care of them." Success had come; 
but the worst of the battle was still in the future. 

Barlow's division had struck full on its centre a broad, 
flat V-shaped salient, and swept over it. The flat, 
open clear space behind that, turned on the instant into 
a seethincr caldron of fio-htinof men, was in the undis- 
puted possession of the national forces. Over 12,000 
men, jammed in the narrow space of a few acres, swayed 
hither and thither in the wild delirium of success. For 
the first and for the last time in the loncf wrestle of the 
Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, an intrenched position, mounted with artillery, well 
chosen, well manned and well armed, had been taken 
by an assault in column. It remained to hold it. 

In the swarming, struggling mass of men and oiificers, 



568 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

lines lost, regiments confused, brigades confounded, cool 
heads were at work putting the command into order for 
the inevitable counter assault. The recollection of the 
actors in the great struggle is hopelessly confused as to 
its details. It is easy for widely different conditions to 
exist along the front of a long line nearly a mile in 
breadth. It appears to be unquestionable that the head- 
long rush of assault swept part of the attacking force 
against the inner works of the enemy half a mile dis- 
tant, and equally clear that elsewhere the national forces 
were held in hand, and brought into line just in the rear 
of the works they had carried. It is now known that, 
screened by the w^oods, Gordon's men were falling into 
line to repel Hancock's advance, within a few mo- 
ments after the assault. Brooke's brigade had been 
the first to cross the enerhy's works. To this day it is 
a disputed point whether any but the first division 
actually carried the works before it. 

The salient carried by the national forces had been 
placed where it was by the Confederate engineers, be- 
cause at this point the slope which ran down to the 
creek between the naked ridge on which Hancock 
formed his men, and the ground rising towards Spottsyl- 
vania, dipped into a low swale, which lower sank into a 
narrow ravine. In the day long and even night strug- 
gle that followed, this depression — slight, a mere wrinkle 
on a contour map — played the part of a covered way, 
and made it possible for the Union forces to hold the 
point they had won. 

Lee was in imminent danger. The Second corps had 
cut his army in two. The joint in his harness had been 
found by the keen, highly-tempered blade with which 
Grant had been searching his armor for a fortnight. 
If as vigorous an advance had been made by Warren on 



HANCOCK'S FAMOUS CHARGE. 569 

the riofht, and General Burnside on the left, it is difficult 
to see how Lee's army could have been saved. Cut in 
two at the middle, attacked at each end, it must have been 
rolled a disordered, defeated mass toward Richmond. 
The precious hours passed, but the advance which might 
have turned a brilliant assault into a crowning victory 
never came. 

It had been part of the original plan of attack, that 
the Ninth corps was to advance at the same time 
that the Second did, in the darkness of gray dawn. 
At his head-quarters on the bare and unprotected ridge 
where he was forming his tired men after midnight, full 
under the fire of over forty field-pieces, half of which 
were in his hands by daylight, Hancock chafed away 
hour by hour as the ticking field telegraph at his elbow 
brought one dilatory message after another from the 
head-quarters of the Ninth corps. That force had before 
it a tangled chaparral of low pine and undergrowth, 
offeringf singular difficulties for an advance. Whether 
this obstacle should or should not have prevented a 
headlong assault, it is not necessary here to decide. It 
is enough to record the fact that before he ijave the 
final order for the assault, with the dark sky on his left 
slowly changing as day came, General Hancock sent 
General Burnside word that he should advance without 
him. Day had broken, the Confederate line had been 
carried and almost lost again before Burnside had 
begun an advance which ceased when his troops had 
tested Early's position, and the hot fire of his men, but 
lasted until the Ninth corps had connected with the 
Second. 

How long the Second corps held the salient alone 
against the assault Lee was making upon the point on 
whose recapture the safety of his army hung, is still dis- 



570 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

puted. The contracted limits of the salient became a 
great slaughter pen, swept by one continuous blaze of 
musketry. There was no room to bring in guns, and 
no space to use them. The Second corps stretched first 
in an irregular line across the space it had won — Mott, 
Birney, Gibbon, Barlow from right to left. 

Volley by volley, at point-blank range, beat back the 
Confederate advance. Inch by inch the line fell back, 
and it lay on the works it had won. At six o'clock a. m. 
the Sixth corps brought the first aid, and then shared in 
the desperate work oi the day. Great trees were cut 
off like reeds by the musketry fire which swept the 
works back and forth like canister. The lines were 
reversed, and the national forces fought on the outer 
edge of the works they had won. Ammunition soon 
ran low, and all day pack-mules, the ammunition cases 
slung on their backs, were passing up the ravine, and 
across the dip of the swale the salient had been intended 
to command. By the same shelter wounded men went 
to the rear, and supports and reliefs came to the front. 
The presence of this natural covered way made possible 
communication with the very centre of the battle, whose 
hot fire the war did not see equalled. Without it it is 
hard to see how the difficulty of supplying an advanced 
line through twenty hours of continuous firing, could 
have been surmounted. 

"The angle," sa)-s Brigadier-General Grant, of the 
Sixth corps, of the defence of the salient, "became at 
once the keypoint and scene of a terrible struggle. It 
was apparent that if we held it all the line to the right 
would fall into our hands, and equally apparent that if 
we failed to hold it, the captured lines to the left would 
fall into the enemy's hands. Perhaps there was not a 
more desperate struggle during the war. It was not 



HANCOCK'S FAMOUS CHARGE. .571 

only a desperate struggle, but it was literally a hand-to- 
hand fight. Nothing but breastworks separated our 
force from the enemy, and our men mounted the 
works, and, with muskets rapidly handed them, kept a 
continuous fire until they were shot down, wIkmi 
others would take their places, and continue the deadly 
work. 

" Several times during the day the Confederates would 
show a white flag above the works, and when our fire 
slackened, jump over and surrender, and others were 
crowded down to fill their places. Scores, and no doubt 
hundreds of men are now livinsf who were enoao-ed in 
that conflict, and whose recollections of it are vivid. It 
was there that the somewhat celebrated tree was cut off 
by bullets ; there that the brush and logs were cut to 
pieces and whipped into basket stuff; there that fallen 
men's flesh was torn from the bones, and the bones shat- 
tered ; there that the Confederate ditches and cross 
sections were filled with dead men several deep. It was 
there that General Barlow says : ' I myself saw in the 
excavation on the enemy's side of the log breastworks 
such a mass of the dead and wounded as I had only 
seen once before, and that was in a sunken road at An- 
tietam, which is still called Bloody Lane. '" 

Even for a single regiment the day was crowded with 
incidents. Every group that was formed under this fire 
had its casualty. During the worst fighting of the day, 
after Brooke's brigade had been pushed to the front over 
two battle lines to the Sixth corps, to hold a very im- 
portant position, their ammunition ran out, and the file 
closers ran back to the waiting troops behind them, and 
carried cartridges up in their caps to the fighting men. 
Brooke had been ordered to hold the road at all 
hazards. 



572 I^^^^ OF GENERAL GRANT. 

While the fighting was hot, and the artillery' of the 
Second corps, massed on the ridge from which the troops 
were started, was playing over the heads of the men 
in the salient on the Confederate line beyond, it was de- 
termined to place two pieces at the angles of the salient, 
and sweep the approaches obliquely. 

" I can't take my pieces there," said the artillery offi- 
cer to whom Colonel Wilson, General Hancock's aide, 
came with the order; "my horses will be shot down be- 
fore we get there," 

" I expect you to take them up there by hand," was 
the reply, 

" But the men can't under that musketry fire," pleaded 
the officer, 

"Then I'll o-et a detail from the One-hundred-and- 
forty-eighth Pennsylvania lying there that will. They'll 
not only get the guns up there, but work 'em," said the 
aide. The detail was made up before the officer gave 
way, and the pieces were started out to their post. 

Through hours and hours of hard fighting the long 
forenoon wore away into the afternoon. Night even 
came on and still the ficrhtino- continued. 

It was nine before firing ceased, it was midnight be- 
fore the enemy retired. Thirty-six hours before the 
troops had broken camp, after hours on the march they 
had been kept waiting in the dull, soaking mist, waiting 
other hours for the attack, a few hundred yards from 
the enemy, at a point where every soldier felt that delay 
would mean defeat. No better proof of the strain 
under which the troops lay could be offered than the 
fact that the dull clatter of a pack mule laden with in- 
trenching tools, which strayed down the line, sent the 
men dropping singly and by squads to the rear. As the 
line melted away in the dark, it was caught and brought 



HANCOCK'S FAMOUS CHARGE. ru% 

back by its officers. Discipline was strong ; but even 
discipline was not proof against the chance panics of the 
darkness. The assault followed, and the long struggle 
over the ground won lasted through the day. But no 
great results were gained. Once more there was fail- 
ure on the part of some of the corps commanders to 
move rapidly and strike hard. Hancock and Wright 
had done their part, but Burnside and Warren had been 
too slow, and the death-struggle at Spottsylvania only 
opened the way for another move. 



i 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

CONFEDERATE LINE BROKEN. 

Dispositions at Spottsylvania — How the two armies were drawn up — Lay of the 
land — General Gordon's story of the engngement — Hancock's charge on the 
"salient" — General Johnson's surprise and capture — Gordon's desperate fight 
with Hancock — General Lee's sudden appearance — His anxiety — Gordon has 
Lee led from the field — Trees gnawed in twain by bullets — The most terrific 
battle of the war. 

The neck-and-neck race of the two armies to their 
second situation was full of cross purposes to both com- 
manders. There was more or less of accident in Gen- 
eral Lee's reaching there before Grant's forces arrived, 
and the incidents of the night march out of the Wilder- 
ness to the Court-House would fill a volume. But 
there is so much in the deadly encounter after the two 
forces agfain confronted each other that the interestino- 
must give way to the important, and General Gordon 
again, in a conversational way, takes up the Confederate 
story of the engagement : 

"The battle of Spottsylvania Court-House was in many 
respects one of the most desperate in history. When a 
faithful account of it shall be written, joining the opera- 
tions of the contendinof forces, this fact will be made 
manifest. I was commanding during this campaign a 
division of Jackson's old corps, then commanded by 
Ewell, afterwards by General Early and then myself. 

"As I said, in speaking of the engagement in the 
Wilderness, General Lee started me for the new posi- 
tion on the night of the 7th. and I reached it the next 
morning to engage the Union forces almost immediately. 

(574) 



CONFEDERATE LINE BROKEN. 575 

As the troops upon either side came up they were put 
into position and began throwing up temporary in- 
trenchments. During all of Saturday night both armies 
had been marching without any real knowledge on the 
part of the other as to their opponents' movements, 
except as to the general line of march. We collided in 
the morning, and the lines were stretched out all day 
Sunday. 

"Grant still kept up his original plan of throwing his 
troops around so as to get them between us and Rich- 
mond, and as ours came up they too were thrown far< 
ther along to the right, so as to keep our opponents 
from o-ettincr nearer than ourselves to the Confederate 
capital. Therefore, by necessity, the lines were formed 
without any preconceived notion or selection of ground, 
except that each tried to hold the local eminences here 
and there as they could be reached. Circumstances 
made the battle-field. The engineers could do some- 
thing by way of selection, but the necessities of the 
occasion put us to fighting upon ground that was not 
chosen by any one. So we swept along and fought, 
some places in open positions, sometimes on hills, occa- 
sionally along plantations, where both lines were in full 
view. At times we had plenty of spaces for artillery but 
not much for cavalry. 

"The left of the line, upon which my command was, 
beean the fieht, and the first intrenchments were built 
there. As Grant kept moving, Lee kept stretching 
along until finally, when the lines were as nearly 
matched as the disparity in numbers would permit and 
breastworks were thrown up by both sides, there was a 
lull in the work of preparation and we waited for the 
assault. A bold movement followed, which General 
Lee had thought it probable Grant would make. In- 



576 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

stead of pressing upon our right, which he menaced, 
he impetuously attacked our left and almost turned it. 
Reinforcements were brought up to the left of me to 
resist that shock until my command was about the centre 
of the army, when the fighting of that day ceased. 

" During these preliminary movements, which lasted 
from Sunday to Tuesday evening, there had been some 
splendid manoeuvring between the two generals and some 
severe engagements; but Grant's attempt to break our 
line was without important result. On Tuesday night, 
when both armies rested upon their arms, nothing had 
been accomplished except fixing the position of the con- 
tending forces for a final test of strength the next day. 

" In the uncertain shifting- of thinofs from the beQ[-inninor 
of the occupation of Spottsylvania and from the nature 
of the ground a part of our line was in circular shape. 
It was straiq;ht in another and half bent in still another. 
Directly before the centre of my command was the 
famous ' salient.' After recovering the portion of the 
line that Grant had broken on the nth, General Lee 
withdrew my troops and put me in reserve behind this 
'salient.' My general directions were to hold myself 
in readiness to go to any part of the line that was em- 
barrassed. 

"General Ed. Johnson's division occupied the fortified 
position at the 'salient.' Early on the night of the iith 
General Hancock was ordered, as I learned, by General 
Grant to attack and take it. He was to make a night 
march, and, coming into the open space fronting this 
fortification, was to throw his whole force upon it just 
at daybreak and capture it at the point of the bayonet. 
General Burnside, I believe, was to engage us on 
another part of the line to draw attention from this 
movement. 



CONFEDERATE LINE BROKEN. 577 

" This ' salient ' was near the centre of our army — per- 
haps a Httle nearer our left flank — and all that part of 
our line was in the woods. Hancock moved his forces 
under cover of the night, carrying nothing that would 
make a noise. At daylight on the 12th of May, a rainy, 
misty, drizzly morning, he massed his troops in the open- 
ing and threw them with great fury upon the 'salient' 
and captured it. It w^as then that Hancock sent his 
laconic and characteristic despatch to General Grant, ' I 
have used up Johnson and am going into Early.' 

" I was three-quarters of a mile in rear of this ' salient.' 
and Hancock's movement had been so quickly and noise- 
lessly made that no sound of it came to my ear. It was 
simply a great rush at daybreak, with no admonitions of 
its consequences. He ran over Johnson, captured his 
troops and artillery, and yet there was no sound to warn 
one of a battle. At the time I was lying down under a 
tree with my clothes on, my horse tied close by me. 
My first knowledge of what had happened came when 
a private soldier of Johnson's command came running 
back, out of breath, and said the whole of Johnson's com- 
mand was captured. 

" ' General Gordon,' said he, ' the Yankees will be on 
you right here in a minute ; they are right here now,' 

" ' You must be mistaken ; there has been no firing,' 
I replied. 

" ' No, sir,' said he ; ' but they have captured Johnson, 
taken possession of his lines and are coming right along.' 

"I instantly called a staff-officer and started him out 
in the direction of the 'salient' to find out the truth of 
the man's story. This staff-officer did not return. He 
rode riofht into the Federal lines. Soon after I sent a 
courier. He also was captured. Becoming apprehen- 
sive, I jumped on my horse and started to move my 

2M 



578 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

force, which I had at once ordered under arms, forward, 
with General Robert Johnson, of North CaroHna, 
commanding- my advance brigade. We moved in 
cohmin, with skirmishers covering our front. I still did 
not believe that Johnson had been captured. It was a 
litde after daylight, a dark, misty morning, with a heavy 
fog settled over the whole country. As we were pass- 
ing through woods we could not see any distance ahead, 
and we rode against Hancock's line, with only the 
skirmishers in front. 

" Then came a volley from Hancock's line of battle, 
which struck down Johnson, who was riding at my side. 
I then had to form his brigade under fire with the Fed- 
erals right upon us. Withdrawing slightly I formed the 
brigade and charged Hancock's line. It was a most 
critical moment. Unless we checked Hancock's men 
everything was lost. The army was broken in two by 
Hancock's charge. Fortunately his movement was 
stayed a few moments by this desperate assault of 
Johnson's brigade, which gave me time to form my 
whole division for battle. Of course I was getting it in 
line as rapidly as possible from the instant I struck Han- 
cock's advance. 

"While I was thus engaged General Lee had become 
aware of the great danger to his army, and just as I was 
in the act of leading the charge again he rode up and 
pulled off his hat. I shall never forget his appearance 
and the glow which kindled his countenance. I was 
then ordering the charge when he rode to the front, 
evidently with the intention of going in with us. It was 
a perilous time. If Hancock could not be broken and 
driven back our army would be broken in twain. Im- 
pressed with the general's earnestness and his evident 
purpose, I said, loudly enough for the men to hear me: 



CONFEDERATE LINE BROKEN. 579 

" * General Lee, this is no place for you. These men 
have never failed ; they will not fail now.' 

" With that they raised a shout all along the line : 

"'General Lee, to the rear! General Lee, to the 
rear ! ' 

" He paid no heed to their request, evidently intend- 
ing to take his chances for life or death in this crisis. 
I directed two soldiers to take hold of his horse, one on 
either side, and lead it to the rear, which was very 
quickly done. I then gave the command : 

" ' Forward ! ' 

"The men went with a rush and with a shout that 
echoes in my ears to this day ; for their spirits had been 
set aflame by what had occurred with General Lee. 
Gradually we drove the Federals back, recaptured most 
of the works and artillery, and restored the greater part 
of our line. Of course the losses were very heavy on 
both sides. 

"Then came that desperate combat, during which the 
roll of musketry did not cease, night or day, for twenty- 
four hours. The carnage was simply frightful. Grant's 
troops made one charge after another, and his men fell 
by the hundreds and so did ours. At a point near my 
line the tree stood, the stump of which is now, I believe, 
in the War Department Museum in Washington as a 
curiosity. It was eaten down by minie balls. It looks 
as thoucrh rats had enawed it off. 

"After my repulse of Hancock's assault, and recover}'' 
of the lines and artillery, the fighting increased in fury, 
so that, as before stated, the roll of musketry did not 
cease for twenty-four hours. In this combat of small 
arms, which, I repeat, was never equalled in our war in 
the same space of ground and period of time, I think 
fully half of General Lee's army participated. As soon 



580 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

as possible after Hancock's first success and repulse, 
General Lee crowded division after division into the 
very small area in which we were contending to meet 
the heavy masses of troops which General Grant con- 
tinued to concentrate and hurl upon our works. They 
also fought with a desperation born of the emergency. 

"All through that piece of woods to the left of the 
'salient' where my men were fighting, the underbrush was 
swept down by the bullets. Each side fought with the 
greatest desperation, throwing up breastworks as they 
slew each other. Having to build protections while 
fighting, the ditches were dug on the inside instead 
of the outside. It was raining much of the time, and 
these ditches continually filled with water. Again and 
again along the front of my division did I see men fall 
into tliem, and the others would step up on the dead 
bodies of their comrades and fire over at the plucky 
Federals coming up on the other side. Right at that 
point, in my opinion, were witnessed the most shocking 
scenes of the war. I do not tliink there was ever any- 
thing like it anywhere : no such desperation : no such 
losses. The men were fighting often on opposite sides 
of the same embankment, and hundreds were shot 
through the head while firing over the breastworks at 
the enemy who were trying to climb over them. 

" If Hancock had been reinforced at the time he cap- 
tured the 'salient' it is impossible to say what would 
have been the result. Believing that they had finally 
gained a success that they could make permanent and 
destructive, the Federal troojis fought like demons. 
Both forces continued to contend until the troops were 
literally worn out, and the battle of Spottsylvania was 
only concluded when human nature had reached the 
utmost limit of endurance." 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

CONFEDERATES IN THE SALIENT. 

General Stuart's story of Hancock's charge — The location of the Salient — Remov- 
ing the artillery — Premonitions of battle — Asking for more artillery — Waiting for 
the attack — The situation at daylight — First view of the blue coats — Capture of 
the artillery — The scene in the angle — Map of the fortifications — The surrender. 

When the Confederate Bricradier Georee H. Stuart 
surrendered, his staff and most, if not all, of his 
brigade were already in the hands of our success- 
ful troops. Among the number was Captain J. 
McHenry Howard, his inspector-general and chief of 
staff. He was a careful, painstaking officer, with ex- 
ceptional opportunities of knowing the movements of 
the Confederate troops, and their position when the 
salient at Spottsylvania was charged and captured. Be- 
sides being a faithful officer and good soldier he kept, 
while attached to it, a careful note of all the operations 
of the division to which Stuart's bricjade was attached 
(Ed. Johnson's), and is recognized as perhaps the best 
authority of any man in it as to the plans, purposes, and 
movements of the immediate command with which he 
served. 

General Stuart so recoo-nizes him, and has deleijated to 
his trusted staff officer the duty of putting in enduring 
shape herein the story of that important and brilliant "ac- 
cident of war," as Johnson's division and Stuart's 
brigade knew and saw it. Captain Howard drew the 
plan of the Confederate works and position that is here 
shown and penned in the sketch in which it appears. 

(581) 



582 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General Stuart Indorses its accuracy, and makes it his 
own. It is therefore presented as the best information 
obtainable in relation to the Confederate position, plans, 
and movements about the Spottsylvania salient on the 
memorable morning of the 12th of May, 1864, and the 
few days preceding- it: 

"About an hour before sunset on May 8th, 1864, 
Major-General Edward Johnson's division, of Ewell's 
corps, was approaching Spottsylvania Court-House. The 
night before it had moved by the right flank from the 
position it had occupied since the first day's batde in the 
Wilderness at the Orange and Fredericksburg stone road. 
The tired men had just been cheered with the prospect of 
speedily going into camp, when, unexpectedly, the sound 
of firing was heard to the left oblique, and news came 
that Rodes' division had come into collision with the 
enemy. The column was turned from the road in that 
direction, and formed in line of battle in rear of Rodes, 
but although under fire, it was not brought into action. 

"About dark the firing gradually ceased, both sides ap- 
parently holding their positions. Then we were moved 
forward so as to connect with, and extend the line 
from, Rodes' right. By ten o'clock the whole division 
was stretched out in position, and w-as ordered to throw 
up breastworks. The ground was thickly w^ooded, 
particularly on the right, which was held by Stuart's 
brigade. It was also covered with low spreading 
pines, almost impenetrable in places, so that it was 
impossible in the darkness to make a regular line. 
After many efforts the attempt to do so, or to fortify, was 
abandoned for the night, and the men, exhausted from 
fatigue, hunger and want of sleep, were allowed to rest. 

"Shordy after daylight, Maygth, the linewas connected, 
and the men set to work intrenching. The enemy soon 



CONFEDERATES IN THE SALIENT. 583 

opened an artillery fire on our left, by which Stuart's 
brigade was considerably annoyed, being- in a measure 
enfiladed. When the breastwork of this brigade was 
half completed, the engineers of the army ordered us 
to abandon it, and to construct a new line running at a 
right angle with the main front. This e.xposed us much 
more than before to the enemy's fire, which now^ [)ass- 
ins" over the heads of the brigades on our left, took us 
in rear, and it was only during the intervals when the 
fire slackened that we w^ere able to do any work. 

"Our works were therefore constructed for protection 
from behind as well as for defence in front, and when com- 
pleted consisted of a series of deep, square pits. We 
had also cleared away the pines and brush for a space 
in front, and made a very tolerable abatis with the inter- 
laced branches. Having few tools, the labor was tedious, 
and it was not until the middle of the next day. May 
loth, that the works were sufficient for shelter. 

"Towards evening there was some sharp firing on the 
skirmish line, and the artillery opened with such violence 
as to cause us some inconvenience, although I believe 
there was litde or no loss of life in our command. 

" Just before sundown news came that a portion of 
Rodes' line had been captured by a sudden assault, and 
our brigade \vas ordered to his support in all possible 
haste. The distance, by a straight line across the angle, 
was only a few hundred yards. But the emergency was 
great, and the head of our column was pushed on at a 
double-quick, leaving the rear to follow as best it could. 
[n consequence the men neared the scene of action lull 
of ardor, but much exhausted and strung out. Several 
dead bodies in blue uniform were passed, more than a 
couple of hundred yards inside the line, showing that the 
enemy had penetrated thus far. They were now, however, 



584 LJFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

limiting themselves to holding- some two hundred yards of 
the works, from which they poured an incessant fire to 
their front, and up and down the line. Without waiting 
for the rear our advance was hurriedly formed and pushed 
forward. The men charged gallantly enough under a de- 
structive fire, but were not strong enough to recapture the 
ground. The greater part bore off to the right, reaching 
works there, and again made several attempts to charge 
down them, but they were so few in numbers, and met so 
severe a fire, that they each time recoiled with loss, and 
finally confined themselves to holding their own. In the 
end other troops came up in regular order, and the 
enemy were driven out — or more probably were with- 
drawn. About ten o'clock we returned to our own 
position. This affair convinced us of the necessit}' of 
strengthening our line, and next morning, May iith, 
the men fell to work with increased energy, particularly 
on the abatis, the importance of which, in detaining and 
throwing into confusion an assaulting enemy at point 
blank range, they now fully appreciated. 

*' Before cjivinof an account of the disaster of ne.xt 
morning, it will be \vell to describe more minutely the 
character of our line, and the disposition of the troops 
behind it. 

"Johnson's division was composed of four brigades, 
viz. : the old ' Stonewall,' commanded by General James 
A. Walker, Stafford's (Louisiana), John M. Jones' (Vir- 
ginia), and George H. Stuart's (Tenth, Twenty-third and 
Thirty-seventh X'^irginia regiments, and First and Third 
North Carolina State troops). They may have averaged 
eight or nine hundred men, having lost considerably 
since the opening of the campaign. Jones and Stafford 
had been killed in the first day's battle, and the brigade 
of the former (a part at least) was said to be a good 



CONFEDERATES IN THE SALIENT. 680 

deal disheartened from its losses. The three brigades 
first named held the main line on the left of, and up to, 
the salient, and Stuart's was on the rieht, his line turninor 
back at an angle of ninety degrees. There was no sup- 
port or continuation on Stuart's right, except a line of 
skirmishers, there being a vacancy of perhaps a mile 
between him and A. P. Hill's corps, or a portion of it. 
There were no reserves. 

"The ground in Stuart's front was densely wooded, 
with marshy ravines in places; but off the salient it was 
comparatively open. The point of the angle was also 
on elevated ground, sloping towards the enemy, giving 
the only good position for artillery along the line, and 
for this reason, and because it was impossible to concen- 
trate a heavy infantry fire from it, the angle was occupied 
by six or eight pieces. There were also two guns in 
Stuart's centre, and probably other pieces along the left 
of the division, 

"There had been several showers during the day, 
May 1 1 th, and towards evening the atmosphere was 
damp and heavy, and it began to grow foggy. A litde 
before, or at sunset, we were surprised to notice all the 
artillery in the angle and our centre limber up and move 
back. Asking an officer what this meant, he replied 
he did not know except that they were ordered to the 
rear to camp. We discussed this movement with some un- 
easiness, but supposed other batteries would relieve them. 

It is well known that our artillery was, at this time, 
a separate organization in the army, and not under 
the direction of the infantry commanders. Shordy 
after dark a message came from the skirmish line that 
there was, and had been for some time, a steady rum- 
bling in front, indicating that a force was being massed 
opposite to us or passing around to the right. Captain 



586 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

George Williamson, Assistant Adjutant-General, and my- 
self were the only two brigade staff officers on the field. 
We immediately walked out some distance to the front, 
and afterwards stood for half an hour on the breastwork, 
listening to the subdued roar or noise, plainly audible in 
the still and heavy night air, and were convinced that an 
important movement was on foot. We believed that it 
meant an attack on our weak salient in the morning. 
Having an indistinct recollection that a deserter had 
passed over to the enemy shortly before, we appre- 
hended that he had disclosed its defenceless condition. 
So we went back and reported to General Stuart our 
conclusions. He sent a despatch to Major R. \V. Hunter, 
Assistant Adjutant-General of the division, to this effect: 

"'Major, the enemy are moving, and probably massing 
in our front, and we expect to be attacked at daylight in 
the morning. The artillery along our front has been all 
withdrawn, by whose orders I know not, and I beg that 
it be sent back immediately.' A circular was then sent 
to the regimental commanders stating that we would 
probably be attacked in the morning, and ordering them 
to have their men in readiness in the rifle-pits half an 
hour before daylight. 

" The next day, when we were prisoners together, 
and often afterwards. General Johnson informed me 
that on receiving the despatch he immediately sent it, or 
one similar, to General Ewell, commanding the corps, 
urgendy requesting that the artillery be returned. 
General Ewell, or his staff officers, have also told me 
that he received and forwarded the despatch and request 
to General Lee, whose head-quarters were not far off. 

"After the war I mentioned these facts to Colonel 
Charles Marshall, military secretary, who said he well 
remembered the circumstances, and that General Lee, 
on receiving the despatch, remarked to his staff: 









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(.587) 



588 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" ' See, gentlemen, how difficult it is to have certain in- 
formation. Here is a despatch from General Johnson, 
stating that the enemy are massing in his front. At the 
same time I am informed by General Early that they 
are movino- around our left: which am I to believe?' 
General Lee, however, ordered the artillery' to be 'back 
at daylight. 

"On the I2th our men were in position before day- 
light, and so early that a captain (Cantwell) in the Third 
North Carolina afterwards told me he had made his 
men draw their loads and clean their guns while wait- 
ing. Owing to the fog day was late in breaking, and 
for some time there was no indication of an assault. I 
began to think none would be made. 

" Presently there came a sound of distant cheering just 
off the salient, followed as suddenly by a deep silence, the 
suspense of which was most trying, particularly as we 
now eagerly looked and hoped for the arrival of our 
artillery, which should have been there to open in the 
direction of the cheering. Then came a few dropping 
shots from that part of our picket line which was off the 
angle, marking the progress and direction of the attack- 
ing column. Presently a blue line appeared in our front, 
on the riofht of the salient, and our men delivered a 
volley which had the effect of making it disappear. 
I do not think it was a considerable body. It must 
have missed the corner of the angle, and passed down 
in front of our works inside our main picket line. At this 
moment the artillery came up, rather slowly I thought, 
and unlimbered. It had not time to fire a shot, except 
the two pieces in our centre, which were discharged 
once or may be twice. Musketry firing was now quite 
heavy on our left, where Jones' brigade was, and soon 
a crowd of fugitives came pouring down the line from 



CONFEDERATES IN THE SALIENT. .'igO 

the angle, showing that something must have gone 
wrong in that quarter. I was at this time, and had 
been, near the centre. A cloud of blue uniforms now 
pressed after these, and appeared also in our front, 
and filling the angle in rear. A captain in the First 
North Carolina, which was on the left, afterwards in- 
formed me that seeing the artillery in possession of 
the enemy, he ordered his men to shoot at the horses, 
which they did with effect. In our centre and on the 
right we endeavored to stop the stream of fugitives, and 
collected all we could in the square pits, hoping we 
might be able to hold the enemy in check until troops 
came from some other point to our assistance, but we 
were speedily overwhelmed and made prisoners of war. 

" We were passed back through and alongside of 
the still swarming column of attack, which seemed 
to me a dense mass in some confusion, about a hun- 
dred yards in breadth. It seemed to me also that if 
our artillery had been in place, it could have played with 
terrible effect upon it, even by commencing to fire at the 
sound of the cheering. Since the war General Collis, of the 
Union army, has informed me that the attack was directed 
on the angle in column of regiments in mass, but that in 
marchinof so far over roueh (jround the men necessarily 
got into some confusion ; that strict orders had been 
given to keep silence, but that the ardor of the men 
broke into huzzahs, for which censure was afterwards 
passed. 

"The attack was well planned and executed, but it is 
a mistake to suppose, as sometimes stated, that the Con- 
federates were completely surprised. The sound of the 
cheering would have given ample time for us to get into 
the trenches, but in fact we were before prepared, as I 
have shown. It may be, as has been sometimes stated, 



590 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

that some were interrupted at their breakfasts. That 
meal was at that time, and generally, a scanty one with 
us, perhaps corn bread and water, and often dispatched 
in action. 

" Having a thin line and no reserve or support 
even on the right, the disaster could only have been 
averted, if at all, by the services of artillery, sup- 
ported by a force of infantry drawn from some other 
part of the line. The artillery alone might possibly 
have checked the assaulting column long enough for 
such a support to come up. It would at least have in- 
flicted a severe loss. The line was first broken on the 
left of the angle, and Stuart's brigade was thus taken in 
rear and flank." 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE ONSET AT COLD HARBOR. 

Searching for a new place to strike — Back again to familiar ground — Going toward 
the North Anna — Sheridan's cavah-y and their work — Preparing to strike another 
blow at Lee — A general assault ordered — The bloody work of Cold Harbor — 
No results of importance — Between the Rapidan and James. 

The Confederate line was broken ; the Confederate 
position was not carried. Lee still held his grip on the 
heights of Spottsylvania. For a week the national 
forces were moved back and forth, as Grant continued 
his search for another joint in the enemy's harness, and 
through the week the Second corps was shifted hither 
and thither, chief in the search. A new line, developed, 
as usual, to the left, was made by swinging the Fifth and 
Sixth corps around Burnside, and from the left of this 
line General Hancock was advanced, after another 
fatiguing march back of the army to see if an assault 
was possible. 

Woods and thickets of chaparral, another "wilder- 
ness," showed that it was impossible to make an attack 
from the new national left on Lee's right, and on Sun- 
day, May 15th, the corps was faced about on the march 
toward an attack on the left. During the night the 
troops were swung back to their original position on 
the right of Burnside. Haifa mile from the intrench- 
ments, carried on the 12th, which were now crowned by 
the artillery of the Second corps, firing over the heads 
of the national advance, stretched a long line of Con- 
federate works, screened by woods, protected by heavy 

(591J 



592 LTFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

slashing and abatis, and approachable only in the open. 
From sunrise until ten o'clock, through that long fore- 
noon of mid-I\Iay, two brigades of the Second corps kept 
pushing their way into these thickets, to come out rent 
and torn, foiled but not defeated, while Warren, Wright 
and Burnside stood ready to strike if there was a chance. 
The ground was the same so familiar to Hancock and 
Wright from the desperate work of the 12th, The 
attack was at last abandoned, and, facing about for the 
fourth time in the week, the Second corps was marched 
to the right, where it was given a day's rest before it 
started out with the army in the shifting, swinging march 
from Spottsylvania to Cold Harbor, in which Grant 
moved his army, corps by corps, on parallel lines, as a 
draftsman shoves his hinged protractor. 

It was now two days over a fortnight since Grant had 
crossed the Rapidan. In that time but four nights had 
passed by most of the army in unbroken sleep: the rest 
had been driven over to wearisome marches. The Second 
corps, the hammer-head in the horrible liammering of 
this fortnight, lost in all 8,218, officers and men; the 
First division 3,496, almost one-half. 

Weakened by these losses, wearied by these wearing 
marches in mud and rain, the army, on Friday, J\Iay 20th, 
fell into line at daybreak to begin the dangerous and 
hazardous movements of the next fortnight, which shifted 
the base of the army from the Rapidan to the James. 
Grant boldly spread out his forces over a space of more 
than twenty miles, reaching out to the front with the 
Second corps, while the remaining corps lay grouped 
around the old position to be brought up later — much 
as a measuring worm stretches itself out for a new step 
from a fixed point : the Second corps playing the part 
of the advancincf half in the air. For over a week 



THE ONSET AT COLD HARBOR. 



503 



during: this march the whole command was aware that 
it was pushing- alone into the enemy's country, with its 
flank exposed, and its supports distant, liable any day to 
feel the weight of Lee's whole army. Two days before 
this march began, General Barlow's division had been 
called out to aid in repelling an attack made by General 
Ewell on a part of the Second corps; but this had been 
repulsed by General Tyler's brigade, aided by General 
Birney's division, and the First division was not call'-d 




PONTOON BRIDGE AT DEEP BOTTOM 

into action. It started across the Mat river after almost 
half a week's rest from actual fighting. 

Barlow's division of Hancock's corps led the move- 
ment, and on Monday, May 23d, had forded the Matta- 
pony, and, pushing down to the North Anna river, had 
stormed and carried the Confederate work coverincr the 
bridofe. Pontoons were at once laid, and at niofht the 
Second corps lay in force on the right of the strong 

V-shaped position, which commanded thr- bridges and 
2N 



694 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

railroad junction at this point. Warren, who had marched 
directly from Spottsylvania, was on the other face of this 
position; but communication between the two national 
wings was only possible by recrossing the river, and Burn- 
side was unable to cross. It was a hazardous position, and 
it is not surprising that orders to assault given early in 
the day were countermanded, and strong works thrown 
up instead for the protection of the corps. For two 
days the army waited, facing the enemy. It was an un- 
usual pause. The train of the Army of the Potomac 
was an endless affaiivover 4,000 wagons ; but it was 
chiefly devoted to commissary stores and ammunition. 

A division at a time the national forces were started 
in the night, and j^ 'trong column was well on its way 
towards "the Ptt^^rnkey before the new march was dis- 
covered. T.i ; »i>cth. the Fifth, and the Ninth corps 
were succeJ y? 4* ^ removed, and at last the Second 
corps w'^y)^;h idrawn across the stream. 

Herfeen o-in Lee developed signs that the system of 
"pushi.*-^e which the Army of the Potomac had de- 
veloped iTnder Grant, since the present campaign began, 
had weakened his confidence in his own powers, and 
led to the programme he followed to the end, of remain- 
ing wholly on the defensive ; ready at all times to repel 
an attack, but never assaulting in return. Grant was 
clearly at such disadvantage that an opposing general 
of like confidence in himself and his army, and with like 
fertility of resource, should have at once assumed the 
offensive, thereby, in all likelihood, seriously annoying- 
Grant and disarranging his plans. 

For two days, May 27th and 28th, steady marcliing 
continued: the Second corps occupying the centre oi 
the advance. The Pamunkey was crossed, Brooke's 
brigade of Hancock's corps was pushed to the front, in 



THE ONSET AT COLD HARBOR. 505 

the series of operations which brouglit the corps to 
Cold Harbor, and each afternoon saw a hot skirmish as 
the enemy's advance Hne was reached. His main posi- 
tion was still a day's march away, and the brii^ade was 
hourly moved brief distances along- the line of Tolo- 
potomy until the way was opened for a movement on 
Cold Harbor. 

To an army approaching- Richmond from the north- 
east, by the ferries and bridges of the Pamunkey, two 
cross-roads in the flat, sandy peninsula between the 
Pamunkey and the James are essential ; one is at Old 
Cold Harbor, the other at New Cold Harbor. From 
the last a straight tap road leads into Richmond ; from 
the first spread forking roads to the Pamunkey and the 
James. An army which held New Cold Harbor barred 
the path to the Confederate capita; j^n army at Old 
Cold Harbor rested on spreading roads w'^ch gave it a 
base at two points on navigable rivers, < he White 
House on the Pamunkey, and on the Jam-^ at half a 
dozen places. If Lee had secured and held Old. Cold 
Harbor, the plan by which Grant was aimin "**> bring 
his army into contact with General Butler's fe? e would 
have been foiled; if Grant had seized New Coi . Harbor, 
the path to Richmond would have been opengd a year 
earlier than it was. From the North Anna to the two 
Cold Harbors the Army of die Potomac and the Army 
of Northern Virginia swung along for a week, neck-and- 
neck, in a race for these points. Each seized the one 
that was necessary to its own safety ; each missed the 
point needed to balk the other. The assault at New 
Cold Harbor was an attempt by sheer and furious fight- 
ing, to force the advantage which march and manoeuvre 
had missed. It failed at a cost of life matched by no 
other fifteen minutes of four years' war. 



596 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Saturday afternoon, May 28th, after two clays' march- 
ing had spread the Army of the Potomac in a contracted 
hne along the south bank of the Pamunkey, Sheridan's 
troopers, skirmishing before the Second corps, struck 
the edi^re of Lee's army as it swung on a short semi- 
circle between the Federal troops and Richmond. Just 
behind the dropping carbine fire of Sheridan's dis- 
mounted men, the Second corps was throwing up in- 
trenchments in an advantageous position. 

To the right of the Second corps lay the Sixth corps, 
to the left the Fifth, with a gap between, and in the night 
the gap was filled by General Burnside with the Ninth 
corps. Sheridan found the work before him growing 
heavier, and Brooke's brigade of the Second corps was 
ordered to drop its tools, and just at dusk pushed out 
and swept over the enemy's rifle-pits and advanced 
work. In the next three days the two armies wrre 
brought together as the halves of a foot-rule are swung 
together on their hinged end. The National and Con- 
federate forces struck first at the hinge, where Warren 
lay, all the rest of the Army of the Potomac, except Burn- 
side, having been pushed to the left. They met last at 
the open end where the Second corps marched, and this 
was Cold Harbor. 

The army once across the Pamunkey and established 
on its southern bank, its next effort was to extend its 
line southward towards the James. The Second corps 
marched at noon, May 29th, the next day. General Bar- 
low's division in the advance, reaching southward for the 
cross-roads at Old Cold Harbor that spread towards 
both rivers. The order to march " abridged the divine 
service " at which the troops were gathered, anti in the 
Sunday afternoon, as General Hancock reports, "the 
enemy's skirmish line, strongly intrenched, was hand- 




(597) 



598 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

somely carried, without much loss, by skilful manceuvring 
by Brooke's brigade of Barlow's division." 

The slow advance across the Tolopotomy continued all 
day, and just at dusk a brisk Confederate attack having 
fallen on Warren, Hancock was ordered again to attack 
to relieve the Fifth corps. " Brooke's brigade, however," 
General Hancock reports, "advanced just at dark 
over obstacles whicli would have stopped a less ener- 
getic commander, and carried the enemy's advance line 
of rifle-pits." 

The two armies now lay in parallel lines, each front 
covering an extent of about nine miles, the National 
forces daily developing to the left, and the Confederate 
to the right, the Second corps working along with the 
rest, throwing up works almost hourly, and making each 
day an advance which brought the two hinged lines 
closer together. Sheridan at length seized Old Cold 
Harbor just at dusk, May 31st, held it the next fore- 
noon until the Sixth corps came to his relief, and the 
next night, after a day spent in intrenching, the Second 
corps started at 1 1 p. m. to take its familiar place on 
the left of the line, where the blow of the battle was to 
fall. 

It was a day and a night of disastrous, wearisome 
delays. The day before, Warren had not attacked 
when Anderson's troops filed past him on their way to 
take a position before Wright. Wright had failed to push 
the advantage Sheridan had gainec^. Smith, coming up 
from Butler's army by way of the White House Landing, 
had gone wandering over the dusty roads wasting a da)-, 
by a staff officer's blunder, before he found the left wing 
of the army he was seeking. Another staff officer had 
entangled Hancock's advance by leading General Bar- 
low's division into a narrow road in the woods, where 



THE ONSET AT COLD HARBOR. 599 

hours were wasted before the column was extricated. 
It was hoped and intended to advance the Second corps 
on the enemy immediately on their arrival, but the tired, 
hungry, heated troops needed rest and breakfast, and 
the assault was postponed until five in the afternoon. 
All the day before and during this day desultory fighting 
was in progress along the line ; but as Badeau says of 
the Second corps and its commander, "all but Han- 
cock were slower than the lieutenant-general desired." 
The assault was deferred again until early the next 
morning. 

Before day broke a heavy rain fell. The low mists 
and heavy clouds of early June still hung about the 
swamps and stunted pine thickets when three corps, the 
Second (Hancock's), the Sixth (Wright's) and the 
Eighteenth (Smith's), fell into line at 4 a. m. for the 
assault. Their front stretched, with intervals, over two 
miles, and led up to the low rising ground on a part of 
which the Army of the Potomac was stationed when Lee 
attacked McClellan in the early days of the war. 

Of the positions before the army little was known, save 
that for three days they had been filling with Confederate 
troops and artillery. The pickets of the two armies 
were touching. A reconnoissance was deemed im- 
practicable ; the division commanders only knew that 
they were to push forward until they struck the enemy's 
works, and then carry them. The attack was a simple 
brute rush in open day on strong works. 

It cost the National forces from 12.000 to 14,000 in 
killed, wounded and missing, and one-fourth of this loss 
fell on the narrow line of two divisions of the Second 
corps. 

Here, as at Spottsylvania, the Second corps was sent 
in at the key-point of the position, and again Barlow's 



600 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

division led off in the grand assault. The enemy's 
picket and skirmish Hnes were driven in, and hot work 
began at once. The newest regiment3, selected for their 
strength, were placed in advance, and behaved like 
veterans. Through the wet, high grass and brush the 
lines swept steadily up the long slope, over the low 
fence and over the rude works into the enemy's line. 

Such a storm of shot and shell probably never 
antagonized a force before in the military history of the 
world ; but on the line went and swept everything before 
it like the rush of pent-up waters from a mountain 
stream. 

Here it was, in the rush of the Second corps over the 
salient of the Confederate works, that General John R. 
Brooke, now Colonel of the Third United States in- 
fantry, received the almost fatal wound that kept him 
from field work during the rest of the war. 

Back came the enemy's lines against the advance and 
drove it to the rail fence before the rush was checked. 
Then, a part of Barlow's line, under Colonel Beaver, 
who had succeeded Brooke in command of his 
brigade, stood at bay and held the Confederates in a 
fierce bayonet fight until the line was reformed, and the 
ground just below the hill crest held until a rude line of 
rifle-pits was extemporized. The men of tliat day were 
veterans of three campaigns, and did not need the aid 
of an engineer train of intrenching tools, but in a 
wonderfully brief time, with split canteens, bayonets and 
bare hands, dirt was loosened and thrown up over lines of 
rails until a scant shelter from unfriendly fire was 
obtained. 

The story of assault, of charge and countercharge 
here related of the Second corps will fit, with varying 
details, the situation before Wright and Smith. They 



THE ONSET AT COLD HARBOR. 601 

made a series of brilliant charges, carried the Confede- 
rate works here and there, and were forced to withstand 
counter assaults of the Confederate troops. With them, 
as with Hancock, the fighting was severe beyond descrip- 
tion, and Cold Harbor, as a test of the courage of 
Americans, was a success. In most other respects it 
was a failure. The engagement before Burnside and 
Warren was not important, and the sad story of Cold 
Harbor is best told by the frightful losses that fell upon 
the Second, Sixth and Eighteenth corps. 

The score of casualties rated far above any previous 
experience of the Army of the Potomac. In the Second 
corps alone, two general officers and seven colonels fell 
within fifteen minutes; within the hour, over three 
thousand men killed and wounded ; and of these, three 
hundred were commissioned officers, Hancock writes 
of it in his report as "a loss without a precedent," and 
a few days after the battle said to an officer, when ques- 
tioned as to where his corps was, " It lies buried be- 
tween the Rapidan and the James." 

The Confederates have always claimed a victory on 
the first day of Cold Harbor, and perhaps with some 
justice. They had maintained their posidon and in- 
flicted severe damage upon the enemy. Certain it is 
that the day's results contained no advantage to the 
Nadonal arms, while the loss of life was extraordinary. 
It told the old and well-known story of the disproportion 
of loss when a protected line is assaulted. Had the 
attack succeeded the advantage gained would have jus- 
dfied the bloodshed. Because it failed it cannot be set 
down emphatically as a mistake. It was a desperate 
chance in war, and, when it was taken, the commander 
knew that the hope of success was a remote one. It 
was ventured with the knowledge that, if the works were 



602 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

captured, Lee would be placed in a position of such peril 
diat the fall of Richmond and the destruction of the Con- 
federate army would be a matter of but a short period 
of time. Surely this was something to strive for, yet 
the experiment was a very tragic one. 

Hancock's pathetic remark indicates how much was 
paid in blood in the effort. It was simply an attempt to 
overwhelm with numbers. Force alone and not grener- 
aiship was depended on, and the consequences were 
dreadful. How far history will approve of the day's sad 
story is problematical. It can only be justified by the 
importance of the result aimed at. Had it succeeded, 
much after loss of life would have been avoided. At 
best, though, it was a hazardous effort, and one which 
no other commander would have risked. It was Grant's 
practical idea of war, however, that a chance which of- 
fered the slightest prospect of achieving a great and de- 
sired end should be accepted. He believed that it would 
be mercy at the last to push his forward movement at 
almost any cost. And in the light of this theory the 
story of the bloody onset at Cold Harbor must be read. 



CHAPTER XLI 

CONFEDERATES AT COLD HARBOR. 

After Spottsylvania — The wear and tear on the army — Moving to Cold Harbor and 
beyond — Grant's theory of the conflict — His tenacious grip — Handling his forces 
with skill — An estimate of Grant and Lee — Summing up the campaign from the 
Rapidan to the James — The only way to whip Lee — Frightful losses. 

"After the battle of Spottsylvania both sides were tired 
and worn, for the hard marching and terrific fighting were 
beginning to tell on both officers and men. No lessen- 
ing of their vigor or determination was manifest, but 
wearing work and severe losses were having their effect. 
Grant moved away from the Court-House, and Lee, of 
course, moved about the same time, both going towards 
Richmond and meeting at Cold Harbor. 

" There we had a very similar conflict to the one at 
Spottsylvania. It was not so much of a hand-to-hand 
struggle, but it was a series of magnificent charges by 
Grant's command, and severe repulses by our troops. 
There was, as usual, a great deal of preliminary 
manoeuvring, but after the forces got fully locked at 
Cold Harbor matters became again stationary, as they 
had been on all other occasions where we had met since 
crossing the Rapidan. There were the usual advances 
to test the strength of this or that position, and some 
severe fighting at times, but the story of Cold Harbor 
can be summed up in a very few words. There were no 
results on either side, but I think it fair to say that 
General Grant's army suffered vastly more than did 
General Lee's. Hancock there, as at the ' salient ' at 



604 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Spottsylvania, suffered, I learn, more severely than any 
corps of the Federal army. Grant gave desperate battle 
here, and its results probably decided him to change his 
base to City Point, and go south of the James to the 
investment of Petersburcr. 

" From the time Grant crossed the Rapidan river 
until the final capture of Richmond he acted steadily 
upon one purpose: it was to put himself between 
General Lee and Richmond. He moved by his left 
flank all the time, and when he would overlap us a little 
General Lee would move on a parallel line and con- 
tinually throw his army between Grant and our capital. 

" General Grant started with but one great purpose, 
and that was to break down the rebellion, and to do 
that he had to take Richmond. General Lee's army 
stood in his way from first to last, and he was obliged 
to whip that army to accomplish his object. There was 
but one way to do it, and that was by the slow pound- 
ing process that he first adopted and pursued so 
relentlessly to the end. If he had moved south of the 
James at first instead of crossing the Rapidan, he 
would not have succeeded. He would have made 
trouble for himself in Washington, given us an op- 
portunity to destroy his base of supplies, and when 
he had reached the south bank of the James he would 
have found General Lee's army there to oppose him, 
well fortified and upon ground of his own choosing. 
Much as General Grant has been criticised for his 
'campaign of attrition' before moving to City Point, it 
seems to me the only course left him, and the only way 
he could have succeeded in subduing Lee. He well 
understood it, assumed the responsibility, and began 
that terrible wearine, tearinof tenacious series of move- 
mcnts that weakened the Arinv of Northern Viririnla to 



CONFEDERATES AT COLD HARBOR. 605 

such a point that his change of base to the investment 
of Petersburg was a possibiHty. 

" My candid judgment of the result of that wonderful 
campaign from the Rapidan to the James, speaking from 
a historical standpoint, is that General Grant handled 
his forces with remarkable skill, and assumed the re- 
sponsibility for losses which exceeded any on record for 
the number of men he was fighting. This is no reflec- 
tion on General Grant's military capacity. It was a 
necessity, from the character of campaign he was com- 
pelled to wage. To whip General Lee's army he had 
continually to assault their breastworks. Of course, he 
might have kept on moving to our right until he got 
near Richmond, but he would have accomplished 
nothing ; for wherever he had halted there he would 
have found Lee's army confronting him on a line nearer 
to his base of supplies, with less distance to travel, and 
likely in better condition to give battle. The thing 
General Grant had to do was to break down the power 
between him and the Confederate capital. The only 
way was to break that army. He never could have 
reached Richmond except by the character of the cam- 
paign he mapped out and followed. 

"To be sure, the woods in front of us, whenever and 
wherever we were engaged, were black with the Federal 
dead, because men standing behind breastworks, with 
column after column pushing against them, can shoot 
them down with great celerity. Therefore, I think it true 
that General Grant lost more men in that campaign from 
the Rapidan to Richmond than General Lee had when 
he first met him in the Wilderness. I will put that on 
record as my belief, but do not give it as a historic fact. 
I have frequently seen it stated, but have no means ot 
verifying it. My judgment is founded upon the fact that 



606 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

forces behind breastworks can always check with great 
slaughter forces moving to attack them. Naturally, we 
made our position as strong as possible, and the slaughter 
in front was at times perfectly awful. At the ' salient ' at 
Spottsylvania I am confident there were more dead and 
wounded in my front than I had in my command. 

" This is no adverse criticism of General Grant, for it 
was his only way to accomplish the great object he was 
seeking. Before him lay Richmond, and between him 
and that city was Lee's magnificent army. Grant was 
seeking to break him to pieces. To do that he must 
constantly attack us in intrenched positions. We had 
him at that disadvantage at every step he took. If he 
had kept moving towards Richmond to save his army 
he could never have whipped Lee. So he had to work 
by that slow and deadly process of attrition which finally 
wore and tore the force in front of him so that he was 
able, eventually, to break through the lines and capture 
the Confederate capital. 

" When I say that in my judgment we killed and 
wounded as many Federals as we had men in our army, it 
is nothing more than to say that an army waging a war 
against breastworks will necessarily suffer most if they 
have equals to contend against. It is true that the Con- 
federates were very desperate fighters, but there were 
desperate fighters on the other side also. General 
Grant was on the offensive and General Lee on the 
defensive, and Grant had nothing to do but lose his 
men or quit fighting. I think this will be the historic 
verdict upon the one great continuous battle that lasted 
for sixty miles between the Rapidan and the James. 

" In estimating General Lee and General Grant as sol- 
diers, my opinion, of course, will have to be taken with 
just that degree of allowance which always must attach 



CONFEDERATES AT COLD HARBOR. 607 

to a man who fought with one and against the other. My 
partiaHty for General Lee was very great. I was ver}' 
devoted to him personally. I think, measuring him in 
every way, he was one of the greatest commanders that 
has ever appeared in war. He was a man of great 
breadth of intellect. He combined all the qualities of 
a great soldier. Possibly, as an executive officer on 
the field of battle when conducting an engagement, in 
the rapidity of movement, Jackson was his superior ; 
but, as a commander of forces in a great campaign, and 
in dealing with all the different phases of war, I think 
General Lee had no superior and few equals. 

" For General Grant I think I speak the sentiment of 
most of the Southern soldiers. Doubtless he was not 
General Lee's equal as a scientific officer. It is also 
possible that he had less native, soldierly intuition. 
Doubtless he was less learned in the higher phases of 
military science. In one or two particulars I think he 
had the advantage of General Lee. In that fixed, un- 
shaken and unshakable determination to pursue to the 
bitter end, through all sorts of discouragements, and 
without much reference to cost, to accomplish the object 
before him, I believe he has hardly ever had a superior. 

" We think in the South that if General Lee had com- 
manded such an army as Grant had he would have ac- 
complished more with less loss. But whether General 
Lee would have faced the losses and consequences 
that attended upon those operations which Grant con- 
trolled, and would have persisted to the end as Grant 
did, is a problem. So it is difficult to trace an analogy 
between two men who were, in many respects, very 
different. The great element in Grant's cliaracter 
was fixing his eye upon a given point and marching to 
it whatever it might cost to get there ; while Lee, from 
the necessities of smaller numbers and fewer resources, 



608 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

showed his greatness in doing great things with small 
means. 

" The situation at the North, the division of parties and 
the disposition here and there to abandon and waver in 
accordance with political necessities, made this peculiar 
characteristic in Grant one of towering importance in the 
conduct of a Federal campaign. 

"The marked thing about General Grant was his 
almost unequalled modesty of bearing. He had in the 
supremest degree that self-reliance which in ordinary 
men exhibits itself in personal exultation or in an effort 
to aorcrrandize one's self. As commander, President 
and citizen, his bearing was marked with a modesty 
that was everywhere noted. It was an unusual thing to 
find in the most conspicuous man of* the age those 
simple habits and that quite demeanor which would set 
well upon a priest whose whole life was given to study- 
ing how to conduct himself with humility. 

" Yet, with all this simplicity of bearing, there was that 
about him which showed that he had the consciousness 
of knowing what was in him. He was a man of re- 
markable common-sense, but without a particle of the 
ordinary vanity of men. Everybody who talked to him 
saw it, and yet, when he made up his mind that he could 
accomplish a thing, there was no power on earth that 
could turn him from his determination. That quality 
sometimes induces persons in power to make heroes of 
men when there is nothing heroic about them. This was 
never true of Grant. He neither plumed himself with 
his position nor upon his achievements, and never coun- 
tenanced it in others. He was a heroic figure, a true 
friend and an honest man, and you cannot find a Con- 
federate soldier in the South who will ever speak oi 
Grant in any other light than with the greatest respect 
and deference." 



CHAPTER XLII. 

CONFEDERATE OVERLAND CAMrAIGN. 

Colonel Venable's recollections — Blocking the Federals — The fight in the Wilder- 
ness — " Go back, General Lee!" — The terrible second day's fight — Spottsylvania 
— Incidents of the struggle — The desperate slaughter — The dying soldier — The 
position at North Anna — Grant crosses the river — Back again — The march across 
the Peninsula — Before Petersburg. 

Col. Charles S. Venable, was a tried and trusted 
officer upon General Lee's staff. To a very unusual 
extent he possessed the confidence and esteem of the 
Confederate commander. He was with him all through 
the year of angry fighting between the Rapidan and the 
surrender, and his reminiscences of the struggle are 
graphic and interesting. Reviving his recollections from 
an address delivered before the Societ)' of the Army of 
Northern Virginia years ago, he says : 

"When General Lee set out from Orange Court 
House, on the morning of the 4th of May, 1864, to 
meet Grant in the Wilderness, he had less than twenty- 
six thousand infantr)^ in hand. The odds were starding 
and the move was a bold and daring one. Grant had 
more than a hundred thousand men, not including 
Burnslde's corps, but the audacity of Lee was not as 
blind as it apparently seemed. It was inspired by a far- 
seeing comprehension of the situation and showed the 
highest of military genius. He simply enlisted the 
Wilderness as his ally. There, in the natural entrench- 
ments, the disparity in numbers would not be nearly as 
marked as upon the open ground, and the batde could 
be better maintained. Besides, General Lee had the 
most profound confidence in his troops and their ability 

20 (609) 



610 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

to maintain themselves against heavy odds — a confidence 
which experience had vindicated. 

"General Lee rode with General Hill at the head of 
his column, and his presence was an inspiration to the 
troops. Their love and respect for him was very great, 
and they always fought better under his eye. 

" Getty's division was at the head of the Federal 
advance. At Parker's Store the forces met, and the 
fighting was along the plank road beyond, Hancock 
had been ordered to drive the Confederates back to 
Parker's Store, and he made a fierce but unsuccessful 
assault to do so. It failed, however, and he was rein- 
forced until he had forty thousand men before night. 
The Southern troops numbered only ten thousand. 
Again and again the Federal force was hurled against 
the Confederate line with a force that it seemed impos- 
sible to resist ; but our men were firm as rocks. They 
held their position with a desperate tenacity, which was 
marvelous ; and when the assaults ceased at eight o'clock 
in the evening they were still steady, unbroken and 
undefeated. Meanwhile, Ewell had checked Warren on 
the old turnpike, and Rosser had forced back Wilson's 
cavalry on the Caparthin road. 

" General Lee's daring strategy had been entirely 
successful. He had checked Grant and defeated his in- 
tention of turning our left at Orange Court House. 
He had accepted batde at the very outset of the 
Federal forward movement, and forced the enemy to a 
stand-still in the Wilderness. 

•' On the night of the 5th, Lee sent a message to 
General Longstreet instructing him to bring up his two 
divisions by daybreak. Every one felt that there would 
be a desperate engagement on the morrow, and all 
preparations were made for it. General Lee slept on 



CONFEDERATE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN 611 

the field, a few hundred yards from the hne of batde of 
the day. 

" Between the plank road and Ewell's right there 
was a wide unoccupied interval. It was General Lee's 
Intention to relieve Hill's troops as soon as Longstreet 
came up, and place them at this unguarded point. There 
they could be readily utilized for the fight should their 
co-operation be necessary. Unfortunately, however, 
the troops became aware of this, and they became lax in 
watchfulness. As a consequence, when Hancock struck 
Wilcox's division in the morning, it was not well pre- 
pared for the assault. It was driven back in confusion 
and disorder, but it was not in a panic as has been fre- 
quently asserted, nor were the men driven a mile and a 
half as was reported. The truth is, that the right of 
Hill's line was forced back several hundred yards, but 
some of the troops still held their position. 

" It cannot be disguised, however, that the danger 
to the army was very great. General Lee sent Colonel 
W. H. Taylor, his trusted adjutant, back to order the 
trains to be prepared for a movement to the rear, and 
an aid was dispatched at full speed to hasten Long- 
street's advance. It was not long delayed. The last 
mile and a half was made at double quick, and as soon 
as the reinforcements reached the field Longstreet began 
to put them in position on the right and left of the road. 

" Meanwhile, the enemy on our flank were sweeping 
the field to the rear of our artillery pits with a storm of 
musketry fire. Here General Lee was engaged with Gen- 
eral Hill in reforming some of the disordered troops of 
Wilcox's division. While there Gregg's Texan brigade 
came whirling by to the front in magnificent battle order. 
When they saw Lee they gave a hearts' cheer which 
seemed to inspire him. With flashing eyes he spurred 



612 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

his horse through an opening in the trenches, and 
followed close on their line as it moved forward. The 
men had advanced some distance in their charge before 
they discovered that Lee was with them. When they 
did, there came from the entire line, as it rushed on, 
the cr}' : 

" ' Go back, General Lee ! Go back ! We won't go 
on unless you go back ! ' 

" The sensation of anxiet}' w-as very great. A ser- 
geant seized his bridle rein, and General Gregg, turning 
his horse towards General Lee, protested against his 
advancing any further. Just then I directed his attention 
to General Longstreet, whom he had been seeking, and 
who sat on his horse on a knoll to the right of the 
Texans, and General Lee rode over towards him. He 
yielded, with the greatest reluctance, to the appeals of 
his men to go back. When I told General Longstreet 
of the affair, he urged General Lee, with affectionate 
bluntness, not to expose himself. 

'Tn a very short time the line was entirely reformed 
and the Federals were driven to the position they had 
occupied at daybreak. Wilcox and Heth's division, 
with confidence restored, were placed a short distance to 
the left of the plank road. \'ery soon afterwards Gen- 
eral Anderson arrived with reinforcements, and the flank 
attack was immediately planned and put into execution. 
Longstreet put three brigades on the right flank of the 
enemy and rolled it up. At the same time he uncovered 
his own front, and by a fierce assault sent Hancock's 
force reeling back upon the Brock road. It was in this 
engagement that Longstreet was wounded. 

" On the evening of the 12th, Grant commenced his 
change of base and turning operation. General An- 
derson had been promoted to the command of Long- 



CONFEDERATE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN. 613 

street's two divisions, and General Lee, with his con- 
fidence in the abihty of his troops to resist odds, sent 
Anderson to confront the Federal column at Spottsyl- 
vania Court House. Stuart was also ordered to throw 
his cavalry across the Brock road. When Anderson 
arrived at the Court House he found Fitzhugh Lee's 
division of cavalry fighting desperately against the Fifth 
Corps and Torbert's cavalry. Reinforcements of infantry 
were sent to our cavalr}-, and the enemy immediately 
stopped their advance and fell to entrenching. No 
assistance was sent to the Federals, because Grant 
anticipated an attack by Lee upon his rear. In the 
afternoon General Lee arrived with Ewell's corps and 
the line at Spottsylvania was taken up. The line was 
weak on Rodes' right and at General Edward Johnson's 
salient, but it was taken so that the trains could be 
moved in the rear. The road there was free from 
missiles. 

" The fighting in the afternoon was desperate. At 
five o'clock there was a simultaneous assault. Hancock 
had been repulsed by General Early in his attempt to 
threaten our left and rear, while attack after attack by 
the Second and Fifth Corps was beaten back by Ander- 
son. When the combined movement was made, the 
results were the same. The odds against us here were 
very heavy, and only the steadiness and coolness of our 
men could have met and repelled the onslaughts. The 
soldiers would cry : ' Yonder they come, boys, with five 
lines of batde ! ' Afterwards they would creep out cau- 
.tiously and gather up the muskets and cartridges of the 
dead foe. Therefore, in subsequent attacks, our men 
would be provided with several loaded muskets — an 
admirable substitute for breechloaders. 

" It was pitiful to see the slaughter of the brave Feder- 



614 LIFE OF GEISTERAL GRANT. 

als, who were hurled again and again against our works. 
Many of the wounded lay dying near our line, and their 
groans and writhing added to the horror of the scene. 
I recollect one incident particularly, a bright, brave-look- 
ing young fellow, a sergeant in a New York regiment, 
fell not far from our breastworks shot through both 
knees. For many hours he was an especial object of 
sympathy to us. In his terrible miser)- he was seen 
making vain efforts at self-destruction. Repeated 
attempts were made by our men to bring him in, but 
they could not. The Federal sharpshooters were ver>' 
active, and it was impossible to get to him, and we were 
forced to leave him in his agony. On the i ith of May, 
after the Federals had withdrawn from that part of our 
line, and the hail of musket balls had ceased, he was 
found lying where he had fallen, and about him were die 
blackened and swollen corpses of the assailants whose 
sufferines had been less. His terrible fate had left no 
traces or distortions of anguish behind. The boy lay 
there with the fresh, fair face of one just dead. 

"Rodes' line, as I have said, was one of the weak 
points. On the afternoon of the loth. General Sedg- 
wick succeeded in piercing it on the front where Dole's 
Georgia brigade was stationed, and the lines and batter)' 
fell into the Federal hands. General Lee's headquarters 
that day were only a hundred and fifty yards away and 
in full view. Hastily dispatching an aide to General 
Johnson, on Rodes' right, he mounted his horse, and. 
rode rapidly down to rally and reform the troops. \'ery 
soon Rodes' troops and Gordon's division swept up, and 
with a vigorous charge, recaptured the line and batter)-. 
The preliminar)' advantage in this engagement was 
greatly exaggerated by the Federals. 

" The next day General Grant withdrew from our left. 



CONFEDERATE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN. r,15 

Lee's instant interpretation of this move was that he was 
going to swing around to turn our right, and the artil- 
lery was ordered back for immediate use. That night 
General Johnson heard the enemy massing in his front. 
He at once asked for the return of his artillery, and for 
two brigades of Early's troops. The troops he placed 
in a second line at the rear of the weakest point in his 
defences, but the artillery was greatly delayed. The 
enemy attacked his division in great force and com- 
pletely overwhelmed it. The loss in prisoners was three 
thousand, and eighteen pieces of artillery were captured. 

" General Lee knew nothing of this at the time of its 
occurrence. It was the General's habit at the time to 
leave the field at nine or ten o'clock and retire to his 
tent, which was but a short distance. At three o'clock he 
would breakfast by candle-light, and then ride forward. 
On this morning it was the firing which attracted his 
attention, but he knew nothing of the disaster which 
had occurred until he reached the front. 

" Meanwhile, General Gordon had also heard the firinor 
and moved rapidly forward towards the salient with his 
division. In the darkness he met the Federal advance 
under Hancock, and was immediately fired upon. It 
was not yet daylight. The woods were dense and a 
drizzling rain was falling. A line of troops could not be 
seen a hundred yards off, and there was much doubt 
and uncertainty. General Gordon was equal to the 
emergency, however. With splendid audacity he de- 
ployed a brigade as skirmishers, and ordered a charge. 
The Federals in front hesitated longr enouQ-h to enable 
him to form his main line, and he took valuable advan- 
tage of the delay. 

" The Federal line on Gordon's right still pressed on 
however, threatening his right rear and the left llank 



616 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of Hill's corps in the trenches. The situation was ex- 
ceedingly critical at the time, but General Lane's North 
Carolina brieade came forward and checked the enemy's 
advance. 

"A litde later, General Lee rode forward. General Gor- 
don had arranged the left of his division to make an effort 
to recapture the lines. By this time the darkness had 
lifted somewhat and the dim, gray morning light struggled 
through the trees. Gordon, with his colors in his hand, 
was about to lead the troops to the charge when Lee 
joined him. Again his men compelled him to go back 
by their entreaties and expostulations, and he slowly 
and reluctandy consented. Then they dashed forward 
upon the enemy. The charge was resistless in its force. 
The trenches on the rioht of the salient were recovered 
and some of the cannon recaptured. Meanwhile Han- 
cock's right was thrown completely back on that portion 
of the captured line to the left of the salient by Ramseur 
and Rodes, and here, in this narrow space, the fierce 
combat raged all day long. Between the lines were 
fourteen Confederate cannon, not yet unlimbered, which 
neither side could take. 

"Three hundred yards behind the captured salient 
Gordon threw up entrenchments. The terrible musketry 
fire which every narrator of the story of this battle 
dwells upon was in full progress. From dawn until 
midniofht it continued. Rodes, with ten thousand men, 
kept one-half of Grant's army back for eighteen hours. 
On both sides the troops fought with the most desperate 
gallantry-. 

" During the day General Lee again exposed himself 
gready. His position nearly all through the battle was 
at a point on Heth's line to the left of Spottsylvania 
Court House. Rodes had sent to him for reinforce- 



CONFEDERATE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN. 617 

ments, and I was ordered to guide Harris' brigade of 
Mississippians from dieright of ourlinetoRodes' position. 
In going we passed near General Lee's position and he 
rode out from the Httle copse and placed himself at 
General Harris's side at the head of the column. 
Soon the men came within range of the Federal artillery' 
fire. General Lee's horse reared under the fire and a 
round shot passed under him very near the rider's 
stirrup. The men at once halted and shouted at him to 
go back. Indeed, they positively refused to advance 
unless he did go back. He told them that he would go 
if they would promise to retake the lines. The men 
shouted in response ' We will, we will, General Lee,' 
and he then rode back to his old position. This rein- 
forcement saved the day fo'r the Confederates. 

"At nightfall our line of battle still covered four of 
the contested guns, but they became bogged in a swamp 
and fell into the hands of the enemy. The interior line 
which Gordon had thrown up was finished about ten 
o'clock and at midnight our men retired behind the en- 
trenchments worn out. The restoration of the battle 
line after Hancock's success in the morning, and the 
subsequent desperate and stubborn resistance against a 
greatly superior force, make the battle one of the most 
brilliant in history. On the 14th the F'ederals abandoned 
the captured angle as it was now useless to them. 
Many thousand of muskets were left by Grant in the 
Wilderness and at Spottsylvania. These were collected 
by our ordnance officers. One hundred and twenty- 
two thousand tons of lead were also picked up and sent 
to Richmond, where it was recast and fired back at the 
enemy during the campaign. 

" On May 20th, Grant moved towards the North 
Anna, and on the 23d he reached the north bank. Lee, 



618 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

who had been reinforced by Pickett's and Breckin- 
ridge's division, was entrenched on the south side. Ver)' 
little effort was made to prevent the Federals from cross- 
ing, but once on our side of the river it was a dif- 
ferent matter. Lee's position was a ver)^ strong one. 
His centre was near the river, his right reposed on the 
swamps, and his left was thrown back obliquely towards 
the Litde river behind him. Grant found the position 
too strong to be carried by assault and, on the 26th, he 
withdrew back to the north side. The chronicler of the 
Army of the Potomac says : ' The annals of war seldom 
present a more effective checkmate than was thus given 
by Lee.' 

" At this time it was General Lee's policy to attack 
the Federal army whenever a good opportunity afforded. 
He believed that its repulses and the great loss of life 
which had followed the attacks upon his entrenched lines, 
had depressed and dispirited the Union troops, and that 
they had not the enthusiasm to maintain a sharp assault. 
But, in the midst of these operations he was taken sick 
and confined to his tent. As he lay prostrate he would 
often repeat, ' We must strike them a blow ; we must 
never let them pass us again — we must strike them a 
blow.' He had reports of all the operations still brought 
to him, and issued orders to his officers, but Lee. sick 
and confined to his tent, was not Lee on the batde-field. 
I believe that if he had not been physically disabled, he 
would have inflicted a heavy blow upon the enemy in 
his march between Pamunkey and the Chickahominy. 
It is idle, of course, to deal in these might-have-beens, 
but there would most certainly have been some differ- 
ence in the complexion of the campaign. 

" On the third of June the armies met again at Cold 
Harbor. It may be worth noting that this Cold Harbor, 



CONFEDERATE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN. G19 

made famous by two great battles, is the old English 
name for an ordinary or tavern where the traveler can 
get lodging without lood. The victory of that day was, 
perhaps, the easiest ever granted to Confederate arms. 
It was a general assault along a front of six miles, and a 
bloody repulse at all points excepting at one weak sali- 
ent. There the success was but partial, and the position 
was speedily regained. On the next day there was a 
repetition of the painful scenes at Spottsylvania, and on 
the day following, General Grant asked for a cessation 
of hostilities to bury the dead. On the 12th the Fed- 
eral army marched across the peninsula to the south 
side of the James, and the overland campaign was ended. 

"That the morale of General Lee's army was high at 
this time there can be no doubt. The strain of con- 
tinuous bloody fighting at Spottsylvania had been great ; 
but the campaigns of the North Anna and Chickahominy 
had given the men some repose. They believed in the 
success of the campaign, and were on better rations than 
they had been on for a long time. The almost prodigal 
charity with w^hich several brigades contributed to the 
poor of Richmond was a striking illustration of the 
army's spirit during those days on the Chickahominy. 
But cheerful as they were there was a sombre tint to 
the soldier wit in our thinned ranks which expressed 
itself in the homely phrase : 'What is the use of killing 
these Yankees ? It is like killing musquitoes — two come 
for ever)^ one you kill.' 

"When Grant reached the James in safety after his 
successful march, he did not follow McClellan's example 
and repose under the shadow of his gunboats. He was 
a man of action and possessed of obstinate persistency, 
and he would not lie idle. Besides, he had the Wash- 
ington authorities at his back and he was indifferent to 



620 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

criticism at home. So he immediately moved across the 
James towards Petersburg. He attacked Beauregard 
on the 15th, on the Petersburg lines, with Smith's corps. 
The day following he reinforced Smith and renewed 
the attack, and on the 17th he carried the outer lines. 
There Beaureeard held him in check until Lee arrived 
on the 18th. 

" It was on the 17th that the incident of the volunteer 
attack upon the Bermuda Hundred lines took place. I 
was an eye witness to it, and this is what occurred : By 
the afternoon all the line had been retaken except a 
portion in front of the clay house. The order had been 
given to Generals Field and Pickett to move against 
them from the lines which they held. Meanwhile, 
however, the engineers had reported that the line we 
had already taken was strong enough, and that it would 
be a needless waste of life to attempt any more. The 
order not to make the attack was then issued, but 
it reached only General Field in time. Pickett was 
already engaged in the attack when it arrived. He at 
once sent to General Gregg and urged him to go in and 
protect his flank. Gregg instandy consented, but could 
not wisely move until he had sent a like message to the 
troops on his right. At this moment, however, Pickett's 
advancing lines opened fire, and the men of the brigades 
in Field's division on Gregg's right — first squads of 
men and officers, then the standards, and then whole 
regiments — leaped over the entrenchments and joined 
in the charge without order. General Gregg and his 
Texans also went forward with them, and. in a short 
time, the position was ours. It was a gallant sight to 
see, and a striking evidence of the high spirit of troops 
"who had now been fighting, for more than forty days, 
a continuous strain of batdes. The position was a 



CONFEDERATE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN. 621 

Strong one, but it was only held by a few troops and our 
losses were slight. 

" The next day the Federals made a desperate assault 
I upon the interior line.s of Petersburg, but they met with 

a bloody repulse. Generals Lee and Beauregard were 
both on the field, and the assault made no impression 
upon our lines whatever, but it convinced Lee that the 
time for a decisive blow had come. 

" An attack on the Federals was arranged for day- 
break on the 24th. It was to begin with a heavy fire of 
artillery from Archer's hill, on the north bank of the 
Appomattox, enfilading the enemy's line near the river. 
The infantry of Hoke's division, sustained by Field's 
division, was to begin with the capture of the line next 
the river, and then sweep along the line uncovering our 
front, and rolling up the Federal right. If successful, 
this would compel General Grant to fight at a disadvan- 
tage In the open field. On the morning the attack 
began very auspiciously, and the line near the river was 
captured. But, through some error, the skirmishers 
were not sustained, and they fell into the hands of the 
enemy. The movement had failed, and was not per- 
sisted in. From this date the operations partook of the 
nature of a siege." 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



ACROSS THE JAMES RIVER. 



The transfer of the army across the Potomac — Grant's grand scheme — Buller against 
Petersburg — His failure to go in the movement of the 1 2th of June — The alarm 
about Washington — Over-cautious generalship — Smith's unnecessary deliberation 
— Lee in secure possession of Petersburg. 

The story of the transfer of the Army of the Potomac 
south of the James river would be incomplete without 
recital of the movements and military necessities that 
led to the change of base. One of the important ele- 
ments of the grand scheme of the concentration and co- 
operation of all the Union armies, which Grant began 
with his assumption of the functions of the commander- 
in-chief, was the campaign mapped out for the Army of 
the James. Butler, in charge of the Department of Vir- 
o-inia and North Carolina, commanded the various bodies 
of troops that were operating along the Atlantic coast. 
These were gradually concentrated until his forces in 
and around Norfolk and Yorktown numbered nearly 
forty thousand men. This was the Army of the James. 
The impression was carefully circulated that they would 
be again employed, as heretofore, in almost desultory 
operations against other coast defences of the lower 
Atlantic States. The possibility of their employment in 
more effective warfare against either Richmond or the 
Confederate armies in the field, seems not to have been 
even suspected by the enemy. Nevertheless Grant had 
intrusted to it one of the most important and promising 
of all the enterprises of his supporting armies. 

(622) 



I 



ACROSS THE JAMES RIVER. 623 

The task which Grant assigned to Butler and his 
army was to move by way of the south bank of the 
James river against Petersburg and the southern rail- 
way communications of Richmond, and, if possible, to 
invest the latter city. At all events he was to prevent 
the reinforcement of Lee's army from Richmond. Thus 
the chief prize of the grand strategy of the armies was 
left to Buder to seize, while the lieutenant-general 
devoted his own energies to the more difficult work of 
destroying Lee's army. 

While the defences of the Confederate capital had 
been made as strong as engineering skill could devise 
north of the city, the defences of the railways and 
approaches south, although so vitally important from 
every administrative and military consideration, were 
few, weak and intrusted almost wholly to local militia 
and a few convalescent soldiers. Every man fit for 
duty in the field, except a garrison of less than ten 
thousand men, had been sent to reinforce Lee's army, 
now terribly depleted by its rude shocks from Grant's 
still advancing forces. Had Buder's commanders played 
their part the destrucdon of Lee's command might have 
been accomplished before either of the great armies 
reached the James. 

Buder, in accordance with his instructions, seized 
City Point on the James as early as May 5th. He re- 
ported the success of the general movement and the 
results of the reconnoissances toward Petersburg, but 
asked for reinforcements. Four days later he sent ex- 
citing news. He had landed at Bermuda Hundred, in- 
trenched where his army could defend itself against the 
whole of Lee's force. Besides, he had destroyed many 
miles of the railroads between Petersburg and Rich- 
mond. He also reported that a large portion of Beaure- 



624 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

gard's army was thus cut off from reinforcing the Con- 
federate capital or Lee's army. 

On the day of the terrible grapple of Grant and Lee 
at Cold Marbor the former received the news of the 
miscarriage of Butler's campaign. Instead of hurling 
his army against the handful of home-guards defending 
Petersburg, Butler had contented himself with a succes- 
sion of isolated and weak attacks, which were easily 
repelled. After wasting nearly two weeks in this desul- 
tory campaigning he essayed to advance upon Richmond 
along the James. Met at Drury's Bluff by an inferior 
force hastily collected by Beauregard, and with difficulty 
repulsing desperate charges made to cut him off from 
the James, he had retired to his intrenchments about 
Bermuda Hundred. Beauregard then felt strong enough 
to send the bulk of his force to Lee, thus defeatinof 
every object comprised in the scheme of the campaign 
A handful of old men and boys, aided by a single regi- 
ment of troops, had presented such a resolute front that 
their assailants had been held at bay until Beauregard, 
with all the men he could gather from the Atlantic coast, 
reinforced by Pickett's division from Lee's army, had 
assumed the offensive and cooped up Butler and his 
men at Bermuda Hundred. 

The sole result of Buder's movements was the estab- 
lishment of a base on the James river at which Grant's 
army could effect a junction and thence operate against 
the Confederate capital from the southward. 

Deeply chagrined at the ill success of the Army of the 
James, Grant's plans were foiled almost as disastrously 
in another direction. Sigel, having advanced fifty miles 
up the Shenandoah valley, was struck by a force of 
Confederates at Newmarket and badly defeated. H-e 
had been expected to push forward as far as Staun- 



ACROSS THE JAMES RIVER. 625 

ton, destroy the railroad and prevent the enemy from 
drawing further suppHes from that still rich granary. 
Instead, he was in full retreat toward Strasburg, and 
the troops opposed to him were at liberty to join Lee. 
Banks' campaign in northwestern Louisiana had been 
a disastrous failure. Sheridan, however, had made the 
raid between Lee's army and Richmond, penetrating to 
the suburbs of the Confederate capital, and throwing 
the heads of its executive departments into an agony 
of terror. However, being without infantry support, 
he would have been unable to hold the city, even had 
he taken it. Sherman, too, had driven Bragg out of 
Dalton by a brilliant movement. Thus the grand 
scheme of co-operation and concentration was success- 
ful only as to his own and Sherman's armies. 

The transfer of the Army of the Potomac to the south 
bank of the James was now to be accomplished. The 
Confederate armies had been forced so close to Rich- 
mond that it was impossible by any other flanking 
movement to interpose between Lee and the Confed- 
erate capital. Grant was, however, in position to pass 
Lee's left and invest Richmond from the north, or to 
continue beyond the right, as before, and cross the 
James river. Halleck urged the investment here, but 
Grant saw the impracticability of a line north and east, 
and that the movement to Lee's right was the only 
available course. He then wrote Halleck that he 
should wait until his cavalry destroyed the Virginia 
Central Railway to the west, " and when this is effected 
I shall move the army to the south side of the James." 

Sheridan left with two divisions on June yth for the 
north and west of Richmond, leaving Wilson's division 
to cover the flanks of the army while crossing. On the 
night of that day Burnside and Warren had been re- 

2P 



626 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



tired from the right, and were in full possession of the 
road to the James as far down the Chickahominy as 
Brittan's Bridge and Dispatch Station, on the York 
River Railroad, with Wilson pickedng all the fords. 
Eno-ineers were already studying the river for the best 
place to cross to City Point. This was the main position 
on the south side of the James, because the centring 
of the railways to the west and south and from Norfolk, 
at Petersburg, made that city on the Appomattox 



,,ffx^l-y> ^, 







■ VIEW OF THE CHICKAHOMIXY NEAR MECHANICSVILLE. 

the objective point for the continuation of the cam- 
paign. With Grant at Petersburg, Lee could not re- 
main a week at Richmond, or anywhere else on the 
north bank of the James. 

The movement was one ot the most difficult and 
dangerous of the whole war, yet on the night of June 
I2lh it was beo-un. Smith, who had been detached irom 
Buder after thtt Petersburg failure, was sent back with 
his corps to City Point by water. The rest of the 



ACROSS THE JAMES RIVER. 627 

army had a march before it of thirty-four miles to the 
James, through' the difficult swamps of the Chickahom- 
iny bottom, and across that treacherous river to Wil- 
cox's Landing, twelve miles below City Point. The base 
of supplies was removed from White House, on the 
York river, to City Point, by water, one hundred and 
fifty miles away. A pontoon bridge was laid across the 
Chickahominy after Wilson crossed, and before dark of 
the 1 3th Hancock was on the bank of die James, and 
crossed the next day on transports. 

Smith arrived at Bermuda Hundred on the 14th, be- 
fore the pontoon bridge was laid, and at midnight the 
movement of the Fifth, Sixth and Ninth corps was be- 
gun, and all were across before the morning of June 
1 6th. 

The authorities at Washington, stimulated by the 
nervous fears of General Halleck. were much alarmed 
at this change of base. It left nothing between Lee 
and Washington, unless Hunter, who had succeeded 
Sigel, in the valley, could be depended upon to hold 
Lee should he attempt another movement to the North 
like that of 1862 after the Peninsular campaign, and of 
1863 after Chancellorsville. President Lincoln, how- 
ever, who really seemed to have more military percep- 
tion than half of the alleged generals about him, caught 
something of Grant's idea, and telegraphed him, June 
1 6th : " I begin to see it ; you will succeed. God bless 
you all." 

The alarmists who were close to the ear of the Pres 
ident almost impressed him with their dread of the 
danger to Washington in consequence of Grant's 
operations. They did not perceive, as Grant did, that 
the depletion of Lee's forces during the six weeks of 
terrible fighting between the Rapidan and the James 




MAI' SHOWING IIIK I'OSl lloN (,)K THE ARMIES NEAR PETERSBURG. 
(628) 



ACROSS THE JAMES RIVER. 629 

rendered the Confederate commander utterly un- 
able to attempt an invasion of the North. Lee's 
command was weakened. The Confederate com- 
mander could estimate at its true value the fatal con- 
vergence of Union forces upon him. To weaken his 
army for any northern enterprise would lead to his in- 
evitable ruin. 

While Hancock was crossing, Grant ran up to Ber- 
muda Hundred and instructed Butler as to the seizure 
of Petersburg. He was directed to send forward Smith 
at once on arrival, adding to his force all the troops he 
could spare from the line, while Hancock and the others, 
as fast as they crossed, would move on the east bank of 
the Appomattox to co-operate. 

Everything now depended upon the immediate cap- 
ture of Petersburg, but over-cautious generalship again 
defeated Grant's plan. His orders for rapid movement 
were not carried out, and the city was soon so strength- 
ened by Lee's own army that it took weary months of 
toil and hard fighting before the prize was won. Gen- 
eral Butler gave Smith the cavalry division under Kautz, 
and a division of colored troops under General Edward 
Hinks, increasing his effective force to about eighteen 
thousand men. The movement was to be made against 
the northeast side of the city, the line extending from 
City Point to the Norfolk Railroad — Kautz on the road, 
Hinks on the right, followed by Brooks and Martin- 
dale. There were not much over two thousand Con- 
federates then in the city, but they were behind very 
strong field-works, protected in front by well-built and 
easily-defended rifle trenches. The column struck the 
enemy's pickets about six o'clock in the morning, at 
Baylor's farm, six miles from the city, where a battery 
opened. Kautz reconnoitred and formed a regiment 



630 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of dismounted cavalr}-, supporting a light battery. The 
colored division was thrown in, and cleared the ground; 
but the advance was delayed so that it was nine o'clock 
before the line moved forward, and not until ii a. m. 
that the column had arrived in front of Petersburg. At 
noon the whole force was up. 

Smith was afflicted with excess of caution, and, finding 
the works so much stronger than he expected, moved 
timidly along until it was half-past one o'clock before 
his line reached the point from which the assault was to 
be made. His previous service proved him to be a sol- 
dier of great skill and undoubted bravery, possessing 
cool judgment, but here his extreme caution had led 
him to take no risk without careful reconnoissance. 
Five long hours, when each moment was of supreme 
importance, were spent in examining the ground, select- 
ing and planting his batteries on commanding points 
and forming his infantry. It was seven o'clock when he 
finally assaulted, not in force, however, but with a strong 
skirmish line, striking the works in front and flank, and 
by dark he was in possession of the whole outer line, 
two miles and a half long, with fifteen guns and half 
a thousand prisoners. All that remained between him 
and Petersburg was a part of Wise's brigade and a de- 
feated mob of old men and boys of the local militia. 
His splendid troops had assaulted and swept over one 
of the strongest and best constructed lines of works 
that was ever built by the Confederates. His troops were 
flushed with their victory, and could easily have been 
swung forward successfully even against a much larger 
force. Besides, they had just been reinforced by^ two 
divisions — Birney's and Gibbons' — of Hancock's ham- 
mering veterans. 

Smith was a^ain "cautious" and decided to wait until 



ACT? OSS THE JAMES RIVER. 631 

the coming day before continuing- his movement. He 
had received information that the Confederates were 
rapidly crossing the James at Drury's Bhiff. While 
this should have spurred him on to complete the advan- 
tage he had gained rather than risking it by delay, he 
fatally sat down, with Birney and Gibbons postf^d in his 




GRANT'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT CITY POINT. 

captured line, and at daylight next morning a Confede- 
rate force had been thrown into Petersburg that lost to 
Grant the possession of the town he should have cap- 
tured twelve hours before. 

Had Hancock assumed command on arriving, he be- 
ing the senior officer, the story of the war would prob- 
ably have ended with the midsummer of 1864, for 
Hancock would certainly have pushed in and grasped 
the advantage gained. 

By daylight of June 16th the whole of the Second 
corps was in line on Smith's left, and two divisions of 



632 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Wright's command had been sent to strengthen Buder's 
line to the north of the Appomattox. Beheving that all 
had gone well with his plans, General Grant had re- 
mained at City Point, as being more central both to 
Petersburg and Butler; but at once, on learning of 
Smith's failure, he rode out to Petersburg, where he 
made a personal examination and left Hancock in com- 
mand undl Meade's arrival. Burnside had marched all 
night to the field and was posted on Hancock's left, and 
Warren was on his way from the James. Burnside's 
men must rest, and so the intended effort to repair 
Smith's fault was deferred to 6 p. m. The assault was 
made by Hancock's corps, with part of Burnside's and 
Smith's, but without result, except to gain ground close 
to the heavy redoubts where Lee's veterans were by this 
time posted so strongly. 

Early the next morning, Friday, the Fifth corps 
farmed on the extreme left, and at sunrise Burnside car- 
ried a strong redoubt in his front. All day long the 
whole line was engaged vigorously and was gradually 
advanced, but no great success was attained and the 
redoubt taken by Burnside was lost that night. The 
same day Buder's front was assaulted and forced back, 
and Wrio-ht, with two divisions, was sent to help him. 
Nothing substantial was accomplished. A general 
assault along Meade's front was ordered for Saturday 
morning, but the Confederates had retired to an inner 
and sdll stronger line, which was attacked at times from 
morn until dark with no better results than the day be- 
fore. Lee remained securely in possession of Peters- 
burg. All of the operadons of Friday and Saturday 
were made under the personal supervision of Meade, 
who rose to the occasion, and proved himself worthy 
of the confidence Grant had in him. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



EARLY S VALLEY CAMPAIGN. 



Early's corps ordered to the Valley — Driving Hunter away — Beating Sigel — The 
Sixth and Nineteenth Corps at Washington — Early crosses the Potomac — Lew 
Wallace beaten at Monocacy — Early before the Washington defences — Driven 
back by the Sixth Corps — Chambersburg burned — Slieridan made commander of 
Shenandoah Valley forces — "Early whirling up the Valley "—Complete success 
of Sheridan's Valley campaign. 

During these operations under the immediate eye of 
the Great Chieftain, other matters were occurring that 
proved the grasp he held on the whole situation. Gen- 
eral Jubal A. Early, who had succeeded to the command 
of Ewell's corps of Lee's army, had gone in the late 
days of June and driven Hunter off to the Kanawha, 
in Western Virginia. The Shenandoah Valley was left 
open, and Early swept down that broad and fertile 
thoroughfare to Mardnsburg, overwhelming Sigel's small 
force. Besides his own corps, he had the forces of 
Breckinridge, Imboden (one of the most dashing cavalry 
leaders of the Confederacy), McCausland, and \aughn. 
Early's orders from Lee, on leaving to head off Hunter, 
were to swinQf back alongr the east side of the Blue 
Ridge and cross, if possible, the Potomac at Leesburg. 
He was given discretionary power, if he deemed best, to 
go down the Valley, and he adopted this plan. He had 
then, as is reported, nearly 25,000 effecdve men, includ- 
ing ten batteries. 

Reaching Winchester July 2d, Sigel was quickly 
brushed away from Martmsburg, and by the Sth Pearly 
had passed South Mountain Gap in Maryland, and was 
at Frederick near the Monocacy. Grant heard of Early's 

(633) 



t)34 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



advance on July 4th. Then the idea was prevalent that 
he was going into Pennsylvania. , He had anticipated 
this move on learning of Hunter's defeat, and ordered 
that all available forces be concentrated at Washington. 
The Nineteenth Corps was then arriving in Hampton 














FORTIFICATIONS IN AND AKOL-ND WASHINGTON CITY. 

Roads, and was at once ordered to Baltimore. On 9th 
of July, Wright, with the Sixth Corps, was sent to 
Washington, arriving there in the nick of time to check 
and hurl back Early's army, then within sight of the 
Capitol and some of the public buildings of the city. 



EARLTS VALLEY CAMPAIGN. 635 

J Early had defeated General Lew Wallace at the 
Monocacy, and quickly marched to the works on the 
north side of Washington. The crisis was so urgent 
that President Lincoln telegraphed his judgment to 
General Grant, that he should leave enough men to 
hold his line at Petersburg, and bring the rest with him 
personally and make a vigorous effort to defeat the 
enemy In the vicinity of the National Capital. Grant's 
faith was so great in his lieutenants that he decided not 
to go. He replied that Wright could do the work. 

On the nth of July, when Early attacked Washing- 
ton at Fort Stevens, a handful of men met his advance 
and disputed its progress. Litde by little it was driven 
back, consuming nearly the whole day in the unequal 
struo-gle. All this time there was really no serious 
bar to Early's entrance into the national capital. Only 
a few troops and clerks from the departments with 
o-ups in their hands stood in his way. All wondered 
why he did not enter, and the general supposition was 
that he did not know the condition of the defences. 
General Gordon, who was one of the leading officers of 
the expedition, now says that they were fully aware of 
the weakness of the defenders of the seat of govern- 
ment, but that, after thoroughly canvassing the matter 
in council, there were prudential reasons why they 
should not capture it What these reasons were Gen- 
eral Gordon does not state, but they are supposed to 
relate to the fear that the troops might become unman- 
ao-eable and excite Northern indignation to a high and 
dangerous pitch by a sack of the capital, just at the 
moment when the Confederacy were receiving great en- 
couragement from the depression of the North — a 
weakening on the part of the Unionists more valuable 
to the Southern cause than a victor^-. When Early's 



()36 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

men had reached within short artillery range of the 
Fort, the flag of the Sixth Corps rounded the point 
of the fortifications and was welcomed with hearty 
cheers by the Federals. Wright threw his troops 
forward, and put them in line of battle as soon as 
possible, and before night fall these veterans built a wall 
of threatening iron to dispute Early's advance. The 
next day he was driven off Wright followed him along 
his track down the Shenandoah, overtaking and punishing 
hi.n severely at Snicker's Gap. Averill, who had come 
from Hunter's on the Kanawha, caught him at Win- 
chester and took many guns and prisoners. A week 
later Early whirled about, and, attacking Crook and 
Averill, drove them back across the Potomac, and thrust 
forward McCausland with a small force of cavalry into 
Pennsylvania, where he burned Chambersburg because 
that town would not pay half a million ransom. Early, 
when forced back, was gathering the vast harvests of 
the rich Shenandoah X'alley and sending the much- 
needed supplies to Richmond for Lee's army. 

In this trial Grant's broad grasp of the situadon of 
affairs was well proven, for here he was more perplexed 
than at any other time. Dana, the Assistant Secretary ot 
War, telegraphed him from Washington that " nothing 
can Ije done here for want of a commander. General 
Augur commands the defences of Washington, with Mc- 
Cook and a lot of brigadier generals under him ; Wright 
commands his own corps. General ( iillmore has been as- 
signed to the temi)orary command of those troops ol the 
Nineteenth Corps in the city of Washington : C^eneral 
Ord to command the Eighth Corps, and all other troops 
in the Middle Department, leaving W'allace to command 
the city alone. But there is no head to the whole, and it 
seems indispensable that you should at onceappoint one." 



EARLTS VALLEY CAMPAIGN. 637 

It was at this time that President Lincoln asked Grant 
to come to Washington "personally," but the General- 
in-Chief had Wright placed in general command, regard 
less of the seniority of Hunter, Wallace and Augur. 

Dana had also said (by direction of the vSecretary ot 
War) : ' 'Advice or siiggestionfroni you will not be sufficient. 
General Halle ck imll not give orders except as he receives 
them. The President will give none, and until you direct 
positively and explicitly what is to be done everything 
will go on in the deplorable manner in which it has gone 
on for the past week." Evfery one turned to Grant, 
whose sturdy valor had impressed the country with an 
unfailing faith. Even when Wright was designated to 
command, President Lincoln sent for General Hunter 
and excused the order relieving him, saying that it was 
only temporary, and urging him to withdraw his very 
proper request to be relieved. The order assigning 
Wright to command all the troops left Hunter as com- 
mander of a department, with but a single company 
to command. 

Grant wanted the Sixth Corps back with him. and 
urged that General W. B. Franklin be assigned to the 
command, but antagonism was shown at Washinoton 
against this detail. 

The situation was imminent. Grant promptly decided 
that a head was wanted in that resjion, and on the 2d of 
August named Sheridan as Commander of the Middle 
Military Division, embracing the commands of Hunter, 
Crook, Averill, Wallace and Kelly. Western Mary- 
land and Southern Pennsylvania were exposed to inva- 
sion. Grant decided to look over the ground in person 
before issuing any positive orders , and so, leaving City 
Point August 4th, he went to Harper's Ferry to confer 
v.'ith the commanders there. 



638 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Sheridan relieved Hunter and with the Eighth, Sixth 
and Nineteenth Corps and Torbert's and Wilson's divi- 
sions of cavalry was ordered to clear the Valley of the 
Shenandoah of the enemy, and destroy all supplies he 
could not use. The story of the next three months 
showed how well he obeyed orders ; for, besides his 
victories, he reported that "a crow flying over this 
region would have to carr}- his own rations with him." 

Sheridan's operations in the valley, the battle of Win- 
chester and of Cedar Creek, when he sent Early " whirl- 
ing up the valley," defeated and destroyed, have little to 
do with this narrative except to show how true Grant's 
judgment was in selecting his subordinate commanders. 

This history is recalled simply to show how absolutely 
every official from the President down, leaned upon 
Grant in this crisis. No one would assume any respon- 
sibility and the entire direction of military affairs in all 
the various departments as well as about Washington 
was left to the Lieutenant-General. In this emergency, 
when the war was being declared a failure, when the 
enemy was hammering at the doors of the national 
capital, and the heart of the North, both as to resources 
and men, was sinking to the point of despair, ever}- one 
seems to have looked to this plain, unassuming man for 
guidance and protection. In this dark hour he never 
flinched, and a reunited country is the result of his 
manly self-confidence and hrmness. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



GORDON IN THE VALLEY. 



Hunter in Virginia — His move to Kanawha — The Confederate advance on Wash- 
ington — Sheridan sent to the rescue — Gordon's siory of the campaign — Win- 
chester — Overlooking the Federal camp at Cedar Creek — The attack at dawn — 
Defeat of the Federals — Sheridan's arrival — Defeat changed into victory — The 
valley clear. 

Hunter had been sent on his expedition up the valley 
of the Shenandoah, and for a time he completely disap- 
peared as far as Grant's knowledge of his whereabouts 
was concerned. There was considerable uneasiness 
about him until it became known that he had gone west 
toward Kanawha, and had found a position which left 
him safe enoupfh but of not much use to the national 
cause. What was of more moment he had left the 
valley entirely unprotected, and there was virtually a 
broad, open highway to Washington for the Confederate 
troops. Lee was too good a general not to see and 
take advantage of such a golden opportunity. General 
Early was immediately sent up the valley, and the wild- 
est alarm prevailed at the national capital. The poli- 
ticians, who had been giving elaborate military opinions 
and meddling with officious ignorance in the plans of 
campaigns, were suddenly starded at the prospect of 
getting a little practical experience of war, A cry went 
up instantly for protecdon ; and General Sheridan, with 
the Sixth and the Nineteenth corps and his cavalry 
under command of Torbett, was sent to the rescue. 
General Gordon tells the Confederate story of what 
happened: 

(639) 



640 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"As we moved off from Washington, the Sixth corps 
was immediately put under Sheridan. We had a great 
deal of confidence in ourselves. We had had a clear 
field and the army was in good spirits. Across the 
Potomac we stopped to rest and to gather forage and 
food. We also did some recruiting. Sheridan attacked 
us at Winchester and we were routed. It was the first 
battle we lost in the valley. Indeed, before that we had 
not even had a check of any kind. We had been enabled 
to live off the country and to even forward supplies to 
Richmond. 

" When Sheridan came up in the valley our troops 
were very much scattered. This, of course, because it 
was more convenient to feed them in that way, and we 
had not gotten well in line when we were plunged in 
the midst of battle. The Federal assault was confident 
and impetuous, and we were in no condition to resist it. 
One division after another broke, and when the sun went 
down on the evening of the 19th of September the Fed- 
eral victory was complete. We had been beaten in 
detail. The attack was too sudden to enable us to con- 
solidate our forces and use them to the best advantage, 
and we were shattered and demoralized. 

" Dejected and broken we moved down the valley to 
Fisher's Hill, where we had a very strong position. 
There we stopped and recruited and tried to repair the 
damage which had been done. Our soldiers were very 
much disheartened, however. The transformation from 
a hopeful and advancing army to a beaten and retreating 
one was too great. Three days later we were attacked 
in our position and again defeated. 

" For nearly a month there was a respite, and then 
came Cedar Creek. For the time being we won one of 
the great victories of the war. Every detail of the move- 



GORDON Iiw THE VALLEY. 641 

ment was carefully planned, and for twelve hours it was 
supremely successful. I had gone the day before, Oc- 
tober 1 8th, to the top of what is called Massanutten 
mountain, where we had a signal corps stationed, and 
had taken observations through the field-glasses. There 
was a magnificent bird's-eye view. The Shenandoah 
was the silver bar between us. On the opposite side of 
the river I could distinctly see the red cuffs of the artil- 
lerists. I could even count the men who were there. The 
camp was splendidly exposed to me. I marked the po- 
sition of the guns, and the pickets walking to and fro, 
and observed where the cavalry was placed. It flashed 
upon me instantly that the expectation of General Sher- 
idan was that we would attack him on his right, which 
was the only place supposed possible for the advance 
of any army. His left was protected by the Shenandoah ; 
at this point the mountain was very precipitous and the 
river ran around it. There was no road at all and the 
point was guarded only by a mere cavalry picket. I saw 
our opportunity in an instant, and I told the officers pres- 
ent that, if General Early would permit me to move my 
corps (I was then commanding Ewell's corps) down to 
this point, I could get around the mountain. Both sides 
believed this was impossible, but I felt sure that it could 
be done. My plan was to dismount our cavalry, attack 
Sheridan's cavalry when dismounted and keep them 
from moving. I knew that if we could do this we would 
gain a great victory. 

"This plan was submitted, talked over and finally sub- 
stantially agreed upon. I took my command, having 
ordered them to leave their canteens, sabres and every- 
thing that could make a noise behind. I knew that our 
only dependence was in absolute secrecy and in a com- 
plete surprise. After inspecting things with my staff I 
2Q 



642 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

found I could get my men around die mountain by put- 
ting them in single file, I discovered still another place 
where the horses could be led, although the venture 
would be exceedingly dangerous. Still the expedition 
was essentially one of great peril, and more or less 
danger was of little consequence. 

" Early in the night I began to move my men around 
the mountain. My object was to have them all ready 
for an attack before daylight in the morning. The 
movement took all night. All through the hours of 
darkness the silent figures moved to their posidon near 
the sleeping enemy. An entire brigade of cavalry was 
moved in this way, and reached the point about an hour 
and a half in advance of the men. I instructed the cav- 
alry that as soon as I got ready to move they were to 
proceed in my front, rush across the river, open on the 
cavalry pickets and capture them if possible. If they 
could not do this they were to put their horses to full 
speed, ride right through the Federal camp, firing their 
pistols to the right and the left as they passed through, 
and make direcdy for Sheridan's head-quarters and cap- 
ture him. At that dme I did not know that Sheridan 
was absent and Wright in command. I had selected his 
house from the fla^s which floated from it, and the cour- 
iers who were constantly going in and out. My orders 
were: 'Go right through the Federal camp with your 
command before daylight and right to General Sher- 
idan's head-quarters. Capture him!' Before the move- 
ment began we had compared watches so that the attack 
might be simultaneous. 

"On the morning of the 19th, just about daylight, we 
fired three or four shots. Away the Federal pickets 
went, with our cavalry brigade after them. I rushed 
across, wading the river, with my whole corps of infantry. 



GORDON IN THE VALLEY. 643 

We went with a rush and double-quick. Before start- 
ino- I had selected the house on the road at which the 
head of my column should stop. It was a white house 
at the turn of the road further down towards the 
river, and was on the flank of the enemy's line. As 
soon as I got there I was in position, and I had nothing- 
to do but to close up in front and move. Dashing for- 
ward with one brigade we plunged into the enemy's 
camp and found the men asleep. Many of them never 
awoke in this world. We went right through them and 
shot every one in flight. The cavalry had reached the 
head-quarters and General Wright barely escaped, leav- 
ing his papers behind him, and they fell into our hands. 
We killed and wounded between seven and eight thou- 
sand of the panic-stricken and bewildered Federals and 
broke two corps entirely to pieces. The loss in my com- 
mand was only about two hundred. By sunrise we occu- 
pied the breastworks. The enemy's cavalry was forced to 
retreat before Rosser, although superior to him in num- 
bers. We did not press our advance. The enemy still 
had the Sixth corps in reserve, but we drove it back and 
captured a few of its pieces. That was the battle of 
Cedar Creek, and it was a complete victory. 

" But the triumph did not last. Our men were intox- 
icated with their victory and were careless and out of 
line. Sheridan had heard the noise of the conflict in 
the morning and he came thundering down from Win- 
chester. He found his men scattered along the road in 
terror-stricken confusion, and he compelled them to 
turn about and follow him. He was a fury on -horse- 
back, dashing here and there among the flying soldiers, 
and beating them back to the field of death which they 
had quitted. Meanwhile the men who were retreating 
from the front had been brought to some sort of order. 



644 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"Then followed one of the most extraordinary rever- 
sals in the history of any war. As soon as Sheridan 
reached the field he re-formed his line and practised 
upon us precisely the same movement which had de- 
moralized his own forces in the morning. He just 
moved around our flank, swept down it and whipped 
us out of existence. He broke our line all to fragments, 
and routed the whole army most absolutely. It was as 
thorough a defeat as I ever saw. The day had dawned 
upon victory and exultation. It closed upon utter dis- 
aster and dejection. Two distinct battles had been 
fought, and in the last we lost all that we gained in the 
first one and all that we had before. The reaction was 
dramatic in its suddenness and completeness, and when 
we left the field that evening the Confederacy had re- 
tired from the Shenandoah. It was our last fight in the 
valley." 



CHAPTER XLVI 

THE DEPRESSION OF 1 864. 

Despondency of the American people — Ignorance of the nation about war — Clam- 
oring for a conclusion — The war declared a failure — " Peace at any price" — The 
Northwestern conspiracy — Grant's remarkable letter to Admiral Ammen — His 
thorough knowledge of the situation — Fall of Atlanta — The cry for Sherman — 
The relations of the two generals. 

The pessimism of public sentiment in the North 
during 1864 was full of serious results to the Federal 
army. It encouraged the Confederacy, upheld Ihe hands 
of its sympathizers, embarrassed the Northern com- 
manders, and injured the national credit. The press 
was voluble with absurd suggestions, and the people 
were in a profoundly anxious state of mind. Uned- 
ucated in war, ignorant of the patience and detail which 
are necessary to the winning of campaigns, the appar- 
ently slow progress towards a conclusion consumed 
them with nervous impatience. They were continually 
clamoring for progress; but the popular idea of progress 
was that it meant a rapid and dramatic succession of 
battles. They could not understand that whenever a 
base of supplies had been cut off from the Confederate 
capital, famine had won a victor}' in the campaign, and 
that the victories of famine prepared the way for the 
victories of arms. The knowledge of the factors of final 
success was not theirs. Soldiers knew, but the soldiers 
were at the front. The great body of public sentiment 
persisted in its illy-based resentment, and lost courage in 
its causeless despair. 

The public was very forgetful. The exultation of the 

(64.">) 



646 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Southwest campaign had already become a forgotten 
pride. The opening of the Mississippi, which had once 
seemed so momentous, now appeared but a trivial inci- 
dent of a past era. The triumphs of Sheridan in the 
valley were bits of war-color that had faded. The 
strong, steady advance across the Rapidan had lost 
its glory, and was only remembered as the first step 
in a policy of inexcusable delay. It was nothing that 
there had been no backward steps. That was because 
of "brute force" and "overwhelming numbers" and 
"unlimited supplies," and all the rest of the cant phrases 
of the day. The fact stood out that Richmond had not 
fallen, and the impression was general that the army lay 
in a comatose condition, and did not move because it 
would not move. 

• Many people could not understand why it would not be 
the easiest thing in the world for Grant to put his army on 
dress-parade some fine morning, start up the bands, un- 
furl the flags, and march Into the Confederate capital 
and end the rebellion. It looked easy enough to those 
who depended solely upon their imaginations for their 
military information. 

The effect of this discontent upon the armies was 
very embarrassing. Officers hesitated to make neces- 
sary movements because of the criticisms which would 
follow. They feared to attempt demonstrations which 
the situation demanded, because the voluble ignorance 
of the stay-at-home critics would call the final retirement 
of the troops a defeat and a retreat. No better Illustra- 
tion of this can be given than the despatch which Sher- 
man sent to Grant when he was ordered to demonstrate 
before Haines' Bluffs, while Grant made the real attack 
on Grand Gulf. In It he explained tliat. although the 
country would mistake his feint for an assault and look 



THE DEPRESSION OF 1864. 647 

upon his withdrawal as a repulse, he would trust to the 
judgment of time for justice. It was this persistent 
meddling which hampered our commanders sorely; the 
forgetfulness and ingratitude for what they had done, 
and the impatient demand that they should commit 
themselves to policies which they knew meant defeat and 
ruin. 

Out of this depression grew the " peace-at-any-price " 
cry. That cry was almost fatal to the cause of the Union. 
A powerful political party took it up, nominated a man 
who had been the great commander in the early days ot 
the conflict, and went before the country with the declara- 
tion that the war was a failure. Even citizens who were 
thoroughly in sympathy with the national idea were 
affected by it, and filled with profound concern for the 
final results. There was a paralysis of patriotism, and 
the calls for fresh troops were unanswered. 

The war had been a weary drain, and the excitement 
of Quick victories was necessary to sustain Northern 
patience. It had not yet been educated to an apprecia- 
tion of the strenorth of methodical movement, of slow 
but certain progress, of wary and comprehensive war- 
fare. It did not know that only the limbs of the Con- 
federacy had been lopped off, and that Grant was now 
en^aoed in crushino- its heart. 

Nor did the North understand that its discontent was 
prolonging the war by inspiring the Confederacy. It 
could not see that, where so much had been risked, the 
South would go to the extreme to obtain the great stake 
for which it was fighting, and that every attack upon the 
Northern commander was applause of the man who led 
the Confederates. It did not see that the foreign 
sympathizers of the rebellion, who had already advanced 
millions to assist in disunion, would advance more and 



648 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

thus add to the fighting resources of the South, as long 
as the depression of the North gave them hope of a 
fortunate result. 

The South was fighting for secession and slavery. 
What the " peace-at-any-price-party " proposed to give 
them involved secession and slavery. It meant that all 
the patriotism which had been displayed was a purpose- 
less enthusiasm ; that all the blood that had been spilled 
was a pathetic waste ; that the hands of the clock were 
to be turned back to 1861 and the division of the Union be 
made permanent. Noble encouragement, this, for the 
men who were dying at the front. 

It is, of course, true that the general despondency was 
skilfully nursed by Confederate emissaries at the North. 
But they found little difficulty in convincing the public 
that the war was being conducted upon a policy of radical 
waste and inexcusable delay. It was quick to suspicion 
and slow to judgment. Its impatient vociferation and 
loud complaint reached Washington, and the authorities 
who were between the armies and the public moved 
about uneasily, wagged their heads in wise confidence, 
and tried to hurry that which could not be hurried. It 
was a problem which could not be solved by the omis- 
sion of two or three of the necessary processes. 

The year grew older and the clamor grew louder. 
The air was heavy with the elements of a storm. Con- 
spiracy stepped from behind the mask of discontented 
loyalty. Impatience at the Federal army became the 
pretext for renderin^^ almost open aid to the Confederacy. 
Everywhere there were coldness and cabal. Emissaries 
of disunion flitted through the North, sowing the seeds 
of internal dissension. Loyalty hung its head in sorrow, 
while discord walked the streets with lifted brow. There 
was still the silent progress at the front ; still the excited 



THE DEPRESSION OF 1864. 649 

denunciation in the rear ; still the nervous doubt and 
apprehension at Washington. 

At last there came almost a climax. A gigantic con- 
spiracy had been born of the opportunity presented. 
A Northwestern department of the Confederacy was 
formed, with head-quarters at Chicago, and men were 
recruited in many Northern cities to enlist in its cause. 
The base of the conspiracy was the argument that the 
Union was sure to be dissevered, and that contiguous 
States with common interests should take care of each 
other in the crash. It involved the release of the Con- 
federate prisoners at Camps Chase and Douglas, and 
at Johnson's island, and the seizure of all the national 
property in the Northwest. The plot was discovered 
and throttled, but so dangerous was the state of the 
public mind at the time that every detail of the exposure 
and suppression was carefully concealed. The national 
government did not dare to reveal the truth. 

Meanwhile Grant was investing Richmond. The 
sounds of the discontent came to him, but he continued 
in his purpose undisturbed and undismayed. He could 
see the end that seemed so far away to the people who 
had lost confidence in him, and all he wanted was the 
time to carry out his plans. But he understood the sit- 
uation in the rear fully and was not deceived by any of 
its symptoms. How keen his analytical power was and 
how fully he grasped the after-consequences of a com- 
promise is shown in the following important letter to 
Admiral Ammen, now for the first time given to the 

public : 

Head-quarters Armv of the U. S., City Point, Va., 

August 18, 1864. 
Dear Ammen : 

Your letter of the 2d was duly received. I regret not having made 
better progress in whipping out the rebellion, but feel conscious of 



650 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

having done the best I knew how. This army has fought desperately 
since it left Culpepper and has gained this substantial advantage : 
the enemy is afraid to fight it out on an open field, whilst the Army 
of the Potomac feels confident of success whenever the terms are any- 
thing like equal. 

Several times we have had decisive victories within our grasp, but 
let them, through accident or fault, slip through our hands. Our 
movement from Cold Harbor to the south side of the James was 
made with such celerity that before the enemy was aware of it, and 
before he got a single regiment across the river, our forces had car- 
ried the fortifications east of Petersburg. There was nothing, not 
even a military force, to prevent our walking in and taking possession, 
and the officer charged with this work, for some unaccountable reason, 
stopped at the works he had captured and gave the enemy time to get 
in a garrison and intrench it. 

On the 31st of July again, by a feint north of the James, we drew 
most of the enemy to that side of the river, and, whilst he was there 
(with my troops quietly withdrawn during the night), a mine judi- 
ciously prepared was exploded, burying a battery and some three 
hundred of the enemy, and making a breach in their works into 
which my men marched without opposition. The enemy was com- 
pletely surprised and began running in all directions. There was 
nothing to prevent our men from marching directly to the high ground 
in front of them, to which they had been directed to go, and then all 
the enemy's fortifications would have been taken in reverse and no 
stand would have been made. It is clear that, without a loss of five 
hundred men, we could have had Petersburg, with all of its artillery 
and many of its garrison. 

But our troops stopped in the crater made by the explosion. The 
enemy was given time to rally antl reoccupy his line. Then we 
found, true enough, that we had the wolf by the ears. He was hard 
to hold and more dangerous to let go. This was so outrageous that I 
have obtained a court of inquiry to sift the matter. 

We will peg away, however, and end this matter if our people at 
home will be true to themselves. If they would but reflect, every- 
thing looks favorable. The South now have every man in the ranks, 
including old men and little boys. They have no longer means to 
replace a man who is lost, whilst, by enforcing the draft, we have 
abundance of men. Give us half the men called for by the draft and 
there will hardly be any resistance made. The rebellion is now fed 
and sustained by the bickering and differences Norlli. The hope of a 



THE DEPRESSION OF 1864. 651 

counter-revolution over the draft or the presidential election keeps 
them together. Then, too, they hope for the election of a peace 
commission which will let them go. 

A " peace at any price " is fearful to contemplate. It would be 
but the beginning of war. The demands of the South would know 
no limits. They would demand indemnity for expenses incurred in 
carrying on the war ; and they would demand a treaty looking to the 
return of all fugitive slaves escaping to the Northern States, and they 
would keep on demanding until it would be better to be dead than to 
submit longer. 

My staff officers, generally, have been sick. I am the only one at 
head-quarters who has escaped entirely; and General Rawlins, Colonels 
Badeau and Rowley are now absent, sick, and three others of the 
staff have been absent but have returned improved. The health of 
the troops, however, is generally good. 

I shall be glad to hear from you at all times. 

Yours truly, 

U. S. Grant. 

Commander Daniel Ammen, U. S. Navy. 

" If the country would only reflect." But it would not 
reflect. It confounded impressions with conclusions and 
mistook ignorant judgments for measured opinions. It 
looked at the campaign in detail instead of as a whole, 
and vital steps were taken which it failed entirely to 
comprehend. 

When Atlanta fell it had a new idol. Sherman, by a 
masterly campaign, had compelled the Confederates to 
evacuate their stronghold. At once he was lifted to the 
dangerous pedestal of popular idolatry. A cry went 
up that he should supersede Grant in the command ot 
the armies. The victory was looked upon as an unex- 
pected and isolated one, which bore in no way upon the 
general plan of campaign, and the loud-voiced many 
who, two years ago, had shouted that Sherman was 
crazy, now proclaimed him the only man who could end 
the rebellion. 

It was a most remarkable transformation scene. I he 



652 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

fact that the investment of Richmond had prevented 
reinforcements from going to Johnston, who was operat- 
ing against Sherman, was not thought of, and the fact 
that, after the fall of Adanta, Sherman was, for the first 
time, free to co-operate with Grant in the larger cam- 
paign, was quite neglected. The greater fact that the 
blows given the Confederacy in northern Georgia were 
an absolutely necessary step in the progress towards the 
reduction of Richmond was not understood at all. Sher- 
man had shown great generalship. He had proven his 
capacity to handle a very large body of troops, but he 
was constantly under the eye of Grant and each com- 
mander conceded the military genius of the other. 
They were mutually helpful. The qualides of each 
were of the marked strong type which lifted them to 
the higher and manlier plane where there were no small 
spites and petty jealousies, but only generous apprecia- 
tion and soldierly magnanimity. Sherman wrote : 
"General Grant's letter of April 4th formed the basis 
of all the campaigns of the year." In a communication 
to Grant he frankly and naturally said: "I knew, wher- 
ever I was, that you thought of me." The heartiest 
congratulations which Sherman received on his victory 
came from Grant. The folly of the North could not 
come between them. 

Meanwhile Grant lay before Petersburg. The clamor 
in the rear did not disturb his placid temperament. He 
had heard it once before, and had drowned it in the 
shouts of triumph which went up when Vicksburg lell. 
The |)oliticians in Washington whispered and looked 
dubious, but he cared nothing for their lugubrious time- 
serving. At no time had he missed an opportunity to 
express his contempt for political interference in military 
affairs. Lincoln believed in him, and this v;as enough. 



THE DEPRESSION OF 1864. 653 

The President was his strong arm, and read the situation 
thoroughly. Put for this the depression might have 
reached a point which would have resulted in Grant's 
removal and the indefinite prolongation of the war. 

There had been mishaps and delays, but these belonged 
in a campaign the object of which was so comprehensive 
and final. Of ultimate success he had not the faintest 
doubt. He knew that it was purely a problem in math- 
ematics, and that If he worked the necessary time the 
answer would be obtained. But he disliked to see the 
enemy strengthened In spirit by the fears and follies ot 
the North, and he said so. His self-reliance and con- 
fidence were supreme. He never allowed himself to 
doubt for a moment that Lee's army would escape him. 
He had started in to " whip out the rebellion " — to use 
his favorite expression — and he Intended to do so. 

And he did do so. Any other man would have been 
overwhelmed by the storm behind him ; but he could see 
beyond a few months, and he knew that a victory would 
still it. He had no vanity to be hurt, but only his duty 
to do ; and his consistent recognition of this Is what kept 
him from being swerved into rashness In the days when 
the nation was trying to plan a campaign by caucus and 
end a rebellion by stump-speeches. But never was the 
cause of the Union in greater peril than during the 
depression and despondency of 1864. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

STDE-LIGHTS OF THE GREAT GAME. 

Lee loses the Weldon Railroad — Touching Lee's lines here and there — Movements 
north of the James — The battle of Chapin's farm — Capture of Fort Hamson — 
General Stannard's story of Grant's fearlessness in battle — General Sherman's 
visit — Capture of Fort Steadman — Breaking Hill's lines — President Lincoln 
comes to review the army and witnesses a battle — The beginning of the end. 

In the early part of August the Army of the Potomac 
was in front of Petersburg with many weary months of 
conflict yet before it. It consisted of the Second corps, 
with Hancock, who had returned ; the Fifth, still under 
Warren, and the Ninth, with Parke, Burnside having 
been assigned to other duty. The Eighteenth corps 
had been withdrawn to Butler's lines, and two divisions 
of the cavalry had gone with Sheridan to the^ new cam- 
paign in the Shenandoah valley. 

The dust at the explosion of the crater had hardly 
settled back to its old bed before Grant directed Meade 
to " send a corps of infantry and a couple of divisions 
of cavalry" around to the left to cut again the Weldon 
Railway. The Second corps did the work, for, before 
the movement could be made, the necessities of the sit- 
uation before Early had sent the cavalry away to Wash- 
ington. 

Grant had eone durincr the first week in August to the 
Monocacy to put Sheridan formally in his new com- 
mand, and returned August 9th to City Point. He at 
once began a series of movements to divert Lee's 
attention and keep him from sending help to Early's 

(654) 



SIDE-LIGHTS OF THE GREAT GAME. 655 

front, and the battles at Deep Bottom and Newmarket 
Heights followed. Hancock was ostentatiously placed 
with his corps on transports to move down the James 
the afternoon of August 13th, but when night fell the 
steamers turned, and before dawn had joined Terry, of 
the Tenth corps, at Deep Bottom, where, two days later, 
was fought as sharp and gallant an action as any during 
the war. Grant went to the field himself in this opera- 
tion and directed the movements in person. 

The chareine was across full two miles of low, marshy 
ground defended by numerous rifle trenches, fronted by 
dense lines of brush, like abatis. This was carried and the 
heights beyond swept over, before day had faded into 
nio-ht. Hancock held the ricrht and Terry was on the 
left, while Kautz, of Butler's command, pushed well out, 
headed by the Fourth Massachusetts, led by the gallant 
Moylan. Grant had been informed that Lee had sent 
three divisions away to help Early, but found from this 
fight that only Kershaw's had gone, with Anderson in 
charge. Others were prepared to go, but this dash 
held them, and the Second corps was swung back to the 
Army of the Potomac to make a movement to the left. 
for Grant instinctively turned to Hancock whenever he 
needed work requiring a combination of nerve, energy 
and dash — so rarely found in one man ; and it is a 
singular fact that Badeau, General Grant's chosen 
biographer, does not find an opportunity for criticizing. 
Hancock, while he has more or less of fault to find with 
almost every other general in the army. 

By the movement on the north side of the James 
Grant had attracted a large part of Lee's force there, 
and now came the time to hit them hard. Warren 
reached out to the left, and struck the Wcldon Railroad 
again, destroying half a dozen miles of track. Mahone, 



656 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

who commanded a division of A. P. Hill's corps of Con- 
federates, however, struck him on the flank on his thin 
line, and rolled him back for a moment. Here, when 
disaster seemed imminent, Warren's talent shone at 
its best. Swinging round his line, he gave the Confed- 
erates a thrashinor that lost them for all time the posses- 




GENERAL WARREN. 

sion of the Wcldon Railway. The Federal loss was ver>' 
heavy in prisoners, as well as the killed and wounded, 
but the gain more than balanced the account. Lee 
could no longer receive supplies from the south, except 
by a wide detour by rail that practically cut him off. 
Hancock then, with the gallant Second corps, was 



SIDE-LIGHTS OF THE GREAT GAME. 657 

sent down to the left, and fought the third batde at 
Ream's Station, where he met a much larg-er force than 
iie looked for, but struggled there for four days before 
giving way. The Confederate force returned when he 
did. The price paid in men was horrible, now that the 
reader may look at it after these long years ; but the 
Confederate lines were hemmed in to within three miles 
of the town they were fighting so hard to hold. Very 
speedily the military railway was built from City Point 
around to the Weldon road. This relieved General 
Ingalls, chief quartermaster (Grant's classmate), of 
much more than half his work of supplying the army, 

Petersburg was now well-nigh besieged, and the work 
of investment went on. Day in and day out guns on 
Grant's front shrieked out loud inquiries to Lee that 
were promptlyanswered from the well-armed Confederate 
bastions. The history of one day told the story of each 
succeeding one during the long months when the two 
great chieftains confronted each other at Richmond's out- 
work. Yet Grant was not idle during all that weary 
time of anxiety to the impatient North and the strug- 
gling Southerners. 

Leaving in September but a light line along the 
front of Bermuda Hundred, Grant moved Butler to 
the north ot the James again, with Terry and the 
Tenth corps, and Ord, with the Eighteenth corps. 
This was a part of Grant's plan to prevent Lee from 
st-nding reinforcements to harass Sherman, who was in 
tiie enemy's country with no communication behind him 
for one hundred and fifty miles, and nouf- in front for 
three hundred miles, and to prevent fresh forces being 
sent to Early in the valley to annoy Sheridan, Besides 
this intent to help Sherman and Sheridan, the earthworks 
north of the James were the only obstacles to an easy 

2R 



658 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

entry into Richmond. Therefore, Grant made his play 
with two objects in view, the most important, of course, 
being the capture of the Confederate capital. His 
orders to Butler were very explicit, and after wiring 
Sherman and Sheridan, " 1 will give them another shake 
here before the end of the week," he notified Butler that 
"the object of this movement is to surprise and capture 
Richmond, if possible. This cannot be done if time is 
given to the enemy to move forces to the north of the 
river. Should the outer line be broken the troops will 
push to Richmond with all promptness." 

Then he gave directions to Butler as to what he 
should do in case he succeeded in getting into Richmond. 
But while he was encouracrins: him with the idea that his 
army might capture the Confederate capital, he said to 
Meade, " It is hardly expected that so much can be 
accomplished," 

He ordered the Army of the Potomac, however, to be 
ready to move in any direction at four o'clock on the 
morning of the 29th of September, 1864, and the night 
before directed that the Tenth and Eighteenth corps be 
moved under cover of the darkness to the north side 
of the James, to march from Deep Bottom to the attack 
before dawn. 

The Eighteenth corps, under Ord, with Stannard's 
division in the advance, struck the enemy at Chapin's 
farm, and the seventeen regiments under command of 
General Stannard fought the batde there and captured 
Fort Harrison, the strongest Confederate works north 
of the James river. Ord was wounded early in the ad- 
vance and taken from the field, and Birney, with the 
Tenth corps, which was on the right, carried the in- 
trenchments on the New Market road, but halted at a 
time when he should have pushed forward wiih renewed 



SIDE-LIGHTS OF THE GREAT GAME. 659 

energy. The only real achievement of the day there- 
fore and the only result of the movement was the cap- 
ture of Fort Harrison by Stannard. 

The cares and responsibilities that were at that time 
pressing upon Grant were something enormous. Be- 
sides arranorinof the details of this movement, Sheridan's 
operations in the valley were under his scrutiny, as well 
as Sherman's in the centre of the Gulf States. Con 
sultations with Secretary Stanton in relation to the semi- 
political features of the war were at this moment also 
under way, yet this did not prevent the Lieutenant- 
General from keeping a watchful eye over the important 
movement which he had directed aoainst the fortifica- 
tions in front of Richmond on the north side of the James 
river. But the best witness to these operations and the 
part Grant took in them is General Stannard, who led 
the assaulting force: 

"The batde of Chapin's Farm," says he, "was a very 
severe engagement, and would have resulted in the cap- 
ture of Richmond if the divisions behind me had gotten 
up in time to have pushed forward our first success. 
The seventeen regiments under my command had fought 
a desperate battle, made a most gallant assault, and had 
captured Fort Harrison, the chief fortification in front 
of Richmond on that side of the James. General Ord, 
my corps commander, had been wounded during the pro- 
gress of the assault. My division carried the works 
completely, and I was inside re-forming my force after 
the charge. There was still a sprinkle of musketry 
firing, but the enemy's shells were flying through the air 
thick and fast. While practically the battle was on, so 
far as danger was concerned, I was astonished to see 
General Grant himself come right into the fort. He 
rode up to me and asked for the day's results. I said : 




(660) 



SIDE-LIGHTS OF THE GREAT GAME. 661 

•"We have captured the works, taken fifteen guns, 
and several hundred prisoners.' 

" I stammered this out before I stopped to think of 
the danger General Grant was in. When 1 did gather 
myself, I said: 

" • General, this is no place for you. Get behind the 

traverse.' 

" ' Well, what are you doing out here ? ' was his short 

reply. 

" * It is my duty to be here,' I said ; ' I am rallying my 

troops after the charge,' 

" ' Well, I can stand it if you can,' was his calm reply. 

" I insisted that he should go behind the traverse, but 
it was with difficulty that I induced him to withdraw 
from the front and go to a more protected place. 1 could 
only do it then after he had mounted the works and 
looked over the situation. He could see through the 
smoke of the batde the church spires in Richmond, and 
got a nearer view of the Confederate defences about 
their capital than ever before. He finally went where 
there was less danger, and began writing his despatch 
to General Meade, giving what I had told him of the day's 
work, and making an order for another advance. I re- 
member that right in the midst of his writing a shell 
burst almost directly over him. While every one around 
him dodged and got closer under the traverse, Grant 
continued his work with as much composure as though 
he had been sitting a hundred miles from the batde-field. 
I never saw a man in my life so utterly unconscious of 
personal danger without some show of ostentation, but 
Grant seemed to be perfecdy composed and to take the 
dangers of a batde-field as a matter of no moment. He 
was the most quietly fearless man of his personal safety 
I ever saw. 



662 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" During the visit he made to Fort Harrison I con- 
ceived that General Grant held Butler more or less re- 
sponsible for the failure of the other troops to come to 
my support. One of the first questions he asked me on 
arriving- inside the casement was : 

"'Where is General Butler?' 

" ' I don't know,' I replied. 

'"Well, hasn't he a staff-officer here with you ? ' 

" ' No, sir,' said I ; ' there was one with me, but I have 
not seen him since we crossed the river.' 

" He expressed an earnest disapproval at the absence 
of the commanding officer and then rode away. He 
was a man of very few words, and what he said meant 
a great deal. He tried another advance, but it was 
too late. Lee's reinforcements had come up and our 
opportunity was lost. The next day Lee was in com- 
mand in person, and they made desperate attempts to 
retake the fort we had captured. I lost my arm while 
defending it. During this expedition Kautz with his 
cavalry on our right got within three miles of Richmond, 
and generally we gave the Confederates a big scare. 
We should have captured their capital. But what I 
principally wanted to illustrate by this narrative was 
Grant's fearlessness in battle and his plain common- 
sense way of doing everythino." 

While Butler was still holding on north of the James, 
Parke and Warren had moved down past the Union 
left, and had a sharp fight at Peeble's farm, which re- 
sulted in serious loss, but all these movements developed 
the fact that Lee had sent no reinforcements to oppose 
Sherman or Sheridan. 

The loss of the Weldon road constantly worried 
Lee, and he at once abandoned all attempts on the 



SIDE-LIGHTS OF THE GREAT GAME. 663 
Deep Bottom line, throwing his forces again to his 
right, and vigorously assaulted Warren and Hancock, 
but without serious effect. 




So, on through September and October went the 
^^'*"&fe^^' Assault and counter-assault ; Grant gainincr 



664 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

inch by inch in his immediate front, while the concen- 
trating- armies of Sherman and Sheridan were sweeping 
things before them. Sherman announced, September 
4th, his capture of Atlanta, and Grant ordered a shotted 
salute from every gun in his front ; Sheridan had "gone 
in " in the valley and rode down from Winchester to 
Cedar creek to crush all further opposition out from 
Early's force. Toward the middle of October Grant 
suspected Lee's intention to increase Early's force, but 
checked him with a demonstration north of the James, 
and in the last of that month set out with the whole of 
Meade's command to feel Lee's right. 

The Confederates, on losing the Weldon road, seemed 
to have concluded that all their hopes depended on 
holding the Boydton plank-road, and they at once cov- 
ered it with a line of works extending out from the 
Petersburg right to Hatcher's run. The movement 
began the morning of October 27th, and early the next 
day Hancock was at Burgess' mills across Hatcher's run, 
and only six miles from the Southside Railroad ; Parke 
was on the right and Warren on the left, but the flank 
was not reached, and, finding the enemy held such strong 
advantage, the force was withdrawn after Hancock had 
gallantly repelled a heavy attack on his flank. 

Early in December Gregg was sent with his cavalry 
to Stony creek on the Weldon road, where the Con- 
federates had beeun a branch road across to the South- 
side road, and destroyed the buildings and material 
collected, but was sharply pressed by Hampton on his 
return. Other small affairs occurred; but everythmg 
was so quiet along the line that leaves of absence and 
furloughs were plenty. 

As the year drew near its close Sherman presented 
Savannah to the grateful nation as its Christmas gift 




MAP SHOWING THE APPROACHES TO WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 



666 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

after his "grand gallop through Georgia " from Atlanta; 
and, at Nashville, Thomas had hammered to fragments 
all that remained of the army that Hood believed would 
sweep across the Ohio to the North. General Butler 
had ofone to Fort Fisher to close Wilmingfton to the 
blockade-runners, but " nobody was hurt," and a new 
expedition was organized under Terry that succeeded, 
in the next month, in doing the work. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

A. H. STEPHENS AND LONGSTREET. 

The Peace Commission — What Ben Hill said — Mr. Stephens' narrative — How the 
commissioners met the commander — Grant's rude head-quarters — A pen-picture 
of him — Interesting incidents of the meeting — Longstreet — Grant's anxiety for 
peace — Lee's position in the matter. 

General Grant's real quality as a soldier did not 
penetrate into the Confederacy so far as Richmond until 
he was appointed lieutenant-general and grappled with 
Lee in the Wilderness. To be sure, he had given it 
some hard knocks in the West, but the general predic- 
tion amonof Southerners was that when he came East 
and met General Lee and the flower of their army there 
would not be much of him. But as each successive day 
passed after he crossed the Rapidan, and there was con- 
stant fighting and no disposition shown to yield an inch 
from the plan of campaign mapped out at the beginning, 
indifference changed to interest, and interest to concern, 
among the officials and statesmen gathered at the Con- 
federate capital. 

Before Grant was made lieutenant-general it would 
have been impossible to have induced Mr. Davis to have 
consented to the Peace Commission which met at Hamp- 
ton Roads in 1865. But after he had pounded Lee's 
army from the Rapidan to the James, changed his base 
south of the last-named river, and began his investment 
of Petersburg, a thorough respect for his fighting ca- 
pacity induced Mr. Davis to agree to the commission 

(6ti7) 



668 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

which Francis P. Blair had opened the way for by his 
visit to Richmond. 

Senator Ben Hill, then the leader of the Davis party in 
the Confederate Senate, however, once said to the writer 
that " It was not Grant's capacity as a warrior that in- 
duced Mr. Davis to create the commission, but he did it 
to keep Alexander H. Stephens' mouth shut." Be 
that as it may, the causes which brought Mr. Stephens 
inside the Federal lines at a critical moment in our na- 
tional history are of little or no moment, so far as this 
narrative is concerned, but his story of the meeting with 
General Grant is just now of intense interest as illus- 
trating a Confederate view of his character. 

" Long before I was appointed as one of the commis- 
sioners," said Mr. Stephens, " I had conceived a great 
desire to see the new Federal commander, and when we 
started for his lines on the 29th of January, one of the 
greatest pleasures of the trip was the anticipation of 
seeing and conversing with General Grant. Before his 
promotion we had always reckoned that when General 
Lee beat the Union commander in the first engagement, 
as he usually did, we would have no more trouble with 
him for some time. But Grant had changed all this, and 
by this time had by his resolute ways and tenacious 
methods of conducting his campaign enforced a whole- 
some respect among us for his quality as a soldier, and 
awakened a decided interest in the manner of man who 
could match General Lee in tactical movements and 
keep up a contest with him over a battle-field sixty miles 
long. 

" I had given up all idea of the success of our commis- 
sion before we started, on account of the publicity that 
had been given to a matter that should have been kept 
the profoundest secret until the negotiations had been 



A. H. STEPHENS AND LONGSTREET. 669 

concluded. It was extremely cold weather for our sec- 
tion of the country when we started for the Federal lines 
by rail. We arrived at Petersburg in good time and 
immediately communicated our purpose and presence to 
General Grant's head-quarters. We were two days in 
getting a reply. Lieutenant-Colonel Hatch accompanied 
the commission as its secretary, and he was constantly 
endeavoring to get some information from General 
Grant. I remember one day of his returning to us 
laughing heartily and saying that it was reported along 
the line that the general was on a big spree and could 
not be reached; but this we soon found to be a matter 
of fiction. 

"It was the 31st of January before Grant notified us 
that he would communicate the fact of our presence to 
Washington and advise us later. 

"About four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, 
General Babcock, of General Grant's staff, arrived and 
we were taken by rail to City Point. My interest in our 
first interview with Grant had naturally been heightened 
by the delay and the gossip of the camp. Judge Camp- 
bell and Mr. Hunter, who were the other two commis- 
sioners, also felt some interest, if not concern, as to the 
reception that awaited us. 

" It was nearly eight o'clock in the evening when we 
reached our destination, and a very few moments after 
we were taken direct to General Grant's head-quarters. 
I was greatly surprised at finding them located in a rude 
log hut, lacking adornment or any evidences of that style 
and military show so generally found about the quarters 
of our Confederate generals. Even before we reached 
them I was struck with the fact that there seemed to be 
no guards to obstruct our progress. We usually found 
them three deep before we got into the presence of a 



670 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Confederate brigadier, but here we were able to walk 
without hindrance right up to General Grant's head- 
quarters. 

" General Babcock was leading the way, and as he 
knocked a voice inside answered : 

•" Come in.' 

"We entered and found General Grant sitting alone 
at a table strewn with papers. He was writing. A 
common coal-oil lamp furnished a rather dim light, and 
a huge wood fire blazed in an old-fashioned fireplace. 
The simplicity of his dress and surroundings was the 
first thing that attracted my attention. As soon as we 
had reached the inside the general arose to receive us, 
and without an^ more ceremony than he would have 
given to the simplest caller, said : 

"'Gentlemen, be seated.' 

"The conversation between us for a time turned upon 
the weather, our journey, and finally upon the object of 
our visit. He talked with us with perfect freedom and 
expressed himself as very anxious that our mission might 
end the conflict. We sat for quite a time talking upon 
various subjects, during which time officers and orderlies 
were coming and going, and the general transacted his 
business with each and every caller with as much facility 
as though we had not been present. 

" When any person would knock he would say, ' Come 
in,' then conclude his business with him, and afterward 
turn to us and renew the conversation. Occasionally he 
would go to the door, call an orderly, and ask him if he 
knew the location of such a brigade or division or corps 
and despatch him with a message. 

"The utter absence of style about him was a marvel 
to mf^. He was dressed in a short frock coat without a 
single insignia of military rank, and his manners were 



A. H. STEPHENS AND LONGSTREET. 671 

very easy. His clear and forcible way of putting his 
words and his quiet method of doing business astonished 
us all. In speaking to any one his sentences were short 
and to the point, and his manner was that of a perfectly 
self-possessed and eminently practical man. 

"I could not help contrasting him with some of our 
Confederate officers. He seemed to treat everybody 
alike. In our army even General Lee in a very great 
degree demanded and enforced a recognition of the 
distinctions in military rank. 

"We had not been long in his presence before I was 
impressed, as I think all the commissioners were, with 
the fact that we were dealinsf with a hio-h order of man. 
We found that instead of his having been on a spree, as 
had been reported, that he had been for two days in 
the city of Washington, which was the real cause of the 
delay. 

"We were naturally very much pleased with our re- 
ception and gratified to find that our mission had a warm 
and earnest friend in General Grant. He seemed very 
anxious for peace, and during all our stay went to a 
great deal of trouble to make us comfortable, and 
assumed much responsibility in bringing about the meet- 
ing between President Lincoln, Mr. Seward and our- 
selves. 

"We spent perhaps an hour or more with him in his 
quarters immediately after our arrival, during which 
time it seemed to me that he had sent messages to 
every division of his army. Finally, after arranging 
with him the details of our movements the next day, I 
sueeested that if he would furnish us an orderly to 
show us to our quarters we would not interrupt his 
business further. He said : 

" • Oh, no ! I will show you myself/ 



672 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"To our great astonishment he arose, turned down 
the light in his office with the same air that a country 
lawyer would when going out upon a small attachment 
case, and then said : 

" ' Gentlemen, we will go down to the boat.' 

" He led the way, and we passed out into the dark- 
ness, following him to his despatch boat, which lay in the 
James river. Judge Campbell walked by his side, while 
Mr. Hunter, Colonel Hatch and myself followed. It 
was a very dark night, and this great soldier, command- 
ing nearly half a million of men, was walking alone with 
us, apparently perfectly unconcerned under the pressure 
of the greatest responsibility that could have been put 
upon a man. 

*' During our walk from his head-quarters to the boat 
where we were to spend the night we passed two or 
three sentries. Each of them would challenge: 

" ' Halt ! Who goes there ? ' 

"General Grant would reply in a very quiet undenr 
tone : 

" 'The commanding officer, sentry,' and then we would 
pass on. 

"When we got aboard the boat and were ushered 
into the cabin we found there fully fifty general officers, 
nearly all of the corps, division and some of the brigade 
commanders in General Grant's army. It just then 
dawned upon me that the orderlies he was despatching 
from one point to another while we were at his quarters 
were for these cfenerals. He had concrreofated them for 
the purpose of meeting us. The whole affair had been 
so quietly arranged that none of the commissioners had 
imagined what was going on until we reached the cabin 
and were being introduced by General Grant to his 
lieutenants. After a short time devoted to pleasant 



A. H. STEPHENS AND LONGSTREET. 673 

conversation among them we all sat down to a splen- 
did meal which General Grant had ordered to be pre- 
pared for us. 

"Another surprise was in store for me here. Grant 
mingled and associated with his subordinate commanders 
with perfect freedom, and I was absolutely amazed at the 
familiarity with which he received them all. Every 
general present appeared to be on perfectly good terms 
with him, and there was not the slightest evidence of 
that restraint in his presence that was apparent among 
most of our Confederate generals. 

" He remained with us for a time, mingling in the 
conversation that was going on around the table, but 
finally excused himself, saying that his business de- 
manded his attention, and departed entirely alone for 
his head-quarters, 

"I shall never forget the impressions made by his 
manner and his perfect lack of personal pretension that 
a man in his important position would have been justi- 
fied in always having about him. 

"The entertainment which he had so quietly arranged 
for us lasted until a late hour, and we were very much 
delighted to find in every word and act that Grant had im- 
pressed his own spirit upon all of his officers and that they 
were all very favorable to the success of our mission, 

"The quarters General Grant had arranged for us for 
the night were very comfortable indeed, but the next 
morning there was a great deal of trouble in getting 
satisfactory news from Washington — so much trouble, 
indeed, that we had almost made up our minds to aban- 
don the trip and return home. Doubtless we would have 
done so and the Hampton Roads conference would never 
have been held had it not been for General Grant. 
When we proposed to return he said : 

28 



674 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" ' No, I will take the responsibility. If I do not get 
authority to send you to Hampton Roads I will send you 
to some other point towards Washington, for I am very 
much interested in your meeting our authorities upon 
the subject of peace.' 

" The next day, however, while we were still General 
Grant's guests on the boat, he came down with a long 
ribbon despatch in his hand and held it up to us before 
he got on board the boat and said : 

" • It is all right, gentlemen, it is all right ; you shall 
go up at once.' 

" He had received from Mr. Lincoln the following de- 
spatch, which he handed to us as soon as he got on board : 

" 'Send the three gentlemen to Fortress Monroe and tell them 1 
will meet them there. A. Lincoln.' 

"We were naturally very much relieved by this mes- 
sage, but as the despatch had only mentioned the three 
commissioners, we were anxious about Colonel Hatch, 
our secretary, and at once inquired: 

" 'General, what about our secretary? ' 

" General Grant thought a moment and then said : 

" ' Well, gentlemen, we have had too much trouble in 
this matter to try any experiments. The three commis- 
sioners will go.' 

" Turning to Colonel Hatch he said with as much con- 
sideration as though he had been an officer of equal 
rank : 

" ' Colonel, we will send these gendemen to make 
peace, and you and I will go up the river to look after 
the exchange of prisoners.' 

"This easy and gendemanly disposition of a vexed 
question which would have irritated most men clearly 
demonstrated what a master Grant was not only of men 
but of great affairs. Although our mission to Mr. Lin- 



A. H. STEPHENS AND LONGSTREET. 675 

coin and Mr. Seward resulted in nothing, General Grant's 
part of it was handled with such dignity and character 
as to leave upon my mind the impression that he was a 
man possessing a great practical mind. I have tollowed 
him since through the storms of politics, frequently dif- 
fering with him upon important matters ; but I have al- 
ways held him to be an honest man, a true friend, 
possessing a much higher character than that of a great 
military leader." 

After the visit of the commissioners and the failure 
of their mission, General Grant's mind turned towards 
making peace without more fighting ; but he did not re- 
lax in his preparations for the spring campaign. He 
was greatly disappointed that some agreement was not 
reached at Hampton Roads that would end the war 
without more bloodshed. Finally reaching the conclu- 
sion that if he and General Lee could be brought into 
contact something would result that would bring the 
war to an end, he determined to cast an anchor in that 
direction. 

General Longstreet had been one of his most inti- 
mate friends at West Point. He was an officer in the 
same regiment during their early army life on the fron- 
tier and in Mexico. To him he decided to suggest a 
plan by which he and General Lee might meet and con- 
verse upon the subject. Longstreet's close social rela- 
tions with him and his family made the task an easy one. 
Grant's wife was his kinswoman. The Southern general 
had introduced them. 

When the war broke out it found them on opposite 
sides of the issue, but their troops never met each other 
in batde except in the Wilderness on the second day's 
fight. It was here that Longstreet struck Hancock so 
hard and was himself wounded. Speaking of General 



676 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Grant and his association with him, General Longstreet 
now says : 

" I am certain that General Grant was very anxious 
for peace long before it came. During the winter of 
1864-65, General Ord was commanding the troops im- 
mediately in my front. During the rest both armies 
were having, the men were in the habit of trading with 
each other various articles of food, etc. One day a Hag 
of truce from Ord brought me a message. It requested 
an interview for the purpose of putting an end to the 
too great familiarity which had sprung up between the 
soldiers of the two armies. Ord wrote me that my men 
were driving a lively trade in tobacco, while his men 
were doing as well with their sugar. I agreed that this 
had better stop, and we had a conference, which, by the 
way, was a mere incident of Ord's request. It took but 
a few minutes to come to an agreement as to the barter 
among the men, and then Ord stated to me the real ob- 
ject of his request for an interview. 

" ' General Grant,' said he, ' believes that the poli- 
ticians on both sides are afraid to make a definite move 
in the direction of peace. He thinks that a plan might 
be agreed upon by the general officers of both armies, 
which will have the effect of showing the politicians that 
the men in the field are tired of carnage. It is his de- 
sire to talk this matter over with General Lee, so that a 
concert of action may be secured. As a beginning in 
this direction, he requests that you send for Mrs. Long- 
street to come and pay a visit to Mrs. Grant, who is now 
with him at City Point. She may be accomi)anied by as 
many of your officers as you desire. These officers 
may move freely about in association with ours. After 
her visit is at an end and she has returned to your lines, 
Mrs. Grant will visit Mrs. Longstreet at your head- 



A. H. STEPHENS AND LONGSTREET. 677 

quarters, accompanied by a number of Federal officers. 
Durine these meetinors General Grant and General Lee 
can be thrown together inadvertantly, and the subject 
of peace be talked over. These consultations between 
the military leaders will compel the politicians to meet 
the question in the same way.' 

"I stated to General Ord that I had no authority to 
act in so important a matter, but that I thoroughly ap- 
proved of the plan. Moreover I promised to report 
the matter to Richmond and secure immediate action if 
possible. 

" The proposition found warm advocates in the cabi- 
net. General Breckinridge, who was then Secretary of 
War, was especially earnest in behalf of the effort, and 
urged me to have Mrs. Longstreet to make the pro- 
posed trip. She readily agreed to perform her part of 
the service, and was soon prepared to start. General 
Lee gave her a letter which I was to read before she 
went on the mission. In that letter he asked for a di- 
rect conference for the purpose of considering definite 
ardcles of peace. As this was not in accord with Gen- 
eral Grant's request, and as I knew he had no authority 
to consider such articles, I went to General Lee and 
uro-ed such a modification of his letter as would give 
Grant a chance to act. 

" ' No,' replied General Lee, ' I will assign none but 
the real reason. I am opposed to diplomacy.' 

" The letter was sent just as General Lee wrote it. 
Just as I predicted. General Grant replied that he had 
no authority to act in the manner proposed, and the 
whole matter dropped. 

" While we were waiting for General Grant's reply, 
General Lee said to me: 'Unless this plan succeeds 
there is nothinor ahead of us but to surrender.' General 



678 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Lee was right, and I did not meet General Grant that 
time, as I had hoped. 

" My last meeting with him before Appomattox was 
in 1858. I was in St. Louis on business and there met 
a number of old army chums. It was a cold, dreary 
day and a game of brag was proposed as most likely, 
to recall old memories. We were one hand short when 
my friend Captain Holloway went out to find some one. 
He soon returned with a civilian rather poorly dressed 
in the o^arb of a farmer. We soon recogfnized our old 
friend Grant, who had resicrned from the service a few 
years before and was at the time making an unsuccess- 
ful battle for existence in civil life. The next day, while 
I was standing in front of the Planters' Hotel, Grant 
stepped up and placed a five-dollar gold-piece in my 
hand. He said it was a debt of honor from our associ- 
ation in the old Texan days. 

" ' I will not take it,' said I. ' You are now out of ser- 
vice and need it.' 

" ' But you must take it,' said Grant, determinedly 
' I will not have what does not belono- to me.' 

" Seeing that he was thoroughly in earnest, and to 
save him from mortification, I accepted it, and shaking 
hands, we parted. Is it any wonder that I hoped to 
meet him arain after he had become a srreat general 
and made this appeal to me to help him toward a peace- 
ful settlement of the war ? 

" But we never met after our parting on the steps of 
the Planters' Hotel in St, Louis until after the surrender. 
I was one of the Confederate commissioners to arrange 
the details of the capitulation. General Grant treated us 
with great kindness. He acted as though nothing what- 
ever had happened to mar the relations which existed 
in the long-ago b)- the camp-fires in Texas and Mexico, 



A. H. STEPHENS AND LONGSTREET. 679 

"As we stepped aside after the formalities, he put his 
arm within mine, and the first thing he said to me was — 

"'Pete (my army sobriquet), let us return to the 
happy old days by playing another game of brag.' 

" Grant was an honest, simple man, who always did 
his duty. He never schemed and was above small 
thino-s. He will stand in history as the foremost man 
of his time." 

So it appears that, while waging relentless war. Grant 
was anxious for peace and was holding out the olive 
branch to the enemy while preparing to strike them the 
final blow. 



CHAPTHR XLIX. 



THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. 



The Spirit of the Cavalry — The Consolidation under Sheridan — The First Raid — 
The Hunt for Hunter — Wilson's Raid — In the Shenandoah — Sheridan's Officers — 
A Grant Incident — Early's Destruction — The Move South — Five Forks — TTie 
Character of the Service — The End. 

" Keep the enemy always in sight.' This was the 
order which General Grant sent to Sheridan just before 
he started for the Shenandoah Valley. This epitomizes 
the spirit of the cavalry operations after Grant took 
charge of the wider range of operations in the East. 

In conducting his campaign in Virginia, he devoted 
especial attention to the co-operating factors, and cavalry 
was one of his strong reliances for courageous, intelligent 
and ruthless, but necessary, warfare. They were every- 
where. With a daring that was extraordinary, they 
dashed into the enemy's country, harassed his flanks, 
destroyed his bridges, flung themselves across his roads, 
tore up his railroad tracks, burned his supply depots, 
and tracked his armies to discover his designs. They 
constituted the eye of the Federal force, of which the 
main army was the brawny arm. With meteoric-like 
rapidity they flashed from point to point, now attacking 
greatly their superior numbers, now picking up moving 
troops, now dashing upon isolated guns and carrying 
them off in the very face of an annoyed and bewildered 
enemy. 

"Take what you need for your own consumption, and 
destroy what you cannot use." 

This was the substance of Grant's orders to this branch 
(3«0 



THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. 681 

of the service, and they were literally carried out. There 
was desolation, of course, but desolation is a constituent 
element of war. Non-combatants had their stock driven 
off and their fields laid waste, but the supplies would go 
to the enemy if not destroyed, and the time for leniency 
and individual right had gone by on both sides when the 
cavalry was first brought to an active realization of the 
real work which it had to do. When General Grant 
went to Virginia the day of sentiment in the struggle 
was over. The war had been fought for three years 
from a half stand-point of compromise. Now it had 
reached the bloody but necessary plane of fact. Hence- 
forward it meant ruin, death an.d liame. The rebellion 
was to be crushed, and all means, however dreadful, were 
to be utilized to crush it. The heroic method was the 
merciful one, and there was to be no more hesitancy or 
sacrifice of time in experimental policies. 

On the 24th of March the cavalry of the entire Army 
of the Potomac was consolidated under General Sheri- 
dan, who had distinguished himself in the Southwest. 
He was peculiarly fitted for the command. He was the 
" rough rider " of fiction. With quick military instincts, 
readiness to grasp a situation, the power of rapid exe- 
cution and exceeding concentration of purpose, he was 
eminently equipped for the duty which was assigned 
him. 

He possessed, too. General Grant's confidence in a 
supreme degree, and there was never any fear that he 
would embarrass the commander with doubts as to his 
capacity in critical moments. Under him were General 
Wilson, in command of the Third Division, General 
Merritt, with the First Division, and General Gregg, with 
the Second. 

In May, 1864, the cavalry, with the main army, lay on 



682 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the north bank of the Rapidan watching Lee, who was 
encamped on the south bank. The work of the cavalry 
began the day Grant crossed the river, and the batde 
of horsemen was fought at Todd's Tavern. It ended on 
the April morning of the next year, when Sheridan and 
his full staff rode into Gordon's lines an hour or two 
before the final terms of the surrender were arranged. 

Sheridan moved for the protection of the flank of the 
body which crossed nearest to the enemy. But, in the 
wild region in which the first batde under Grant was 
fought by the Eastern army, there was litde chance for 
his troopers except for scouting away from the fighting 
infantry men. By reason of a conflict of orders, no 
great things were accomplished until Sheridan sent 
General Whittaker. of Custer's staff, to request permis- 
sion to throw his force between Lee's army and Rich- 
mond. Whittaker found Grant and Meade together as 
he delivered his message. 

" What do you think of it? " asked Grant, turning to 
Meade. 

*T hardly know," replied Meade doubtfully; "how is he 
going to protect our wagon trains ? " 

General Grant smiled, and replied. "With Sheridan 
between Lee and Richmond, Jeb. Stuart will have all 
that he can attend to. He will have no time to trouble 
our wagon trains." 

There was no more discussion. Grant gave the per- 
mission Sheridan asked, and he started on his march. 
He made a move as though going towards Fredericks- 
burg. Then, continuing southward, he met Fitzhugh Lee 
at Yellow Tavern. In the fight that followed, Stuart, the 
corps commander, was mortally wounded and died the 
next day. He was one of the most notable soldiers in 
the Confederate service, and his loss was severely felt. 



THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. 



683 



He was a daring military leader, and had shown much 
discretion in extremely hazardous positions. He had 
occupied, practically the same relation to Lee that Sheri- 




GENERAL STUART. 

dan did to Grant. Following up the fight, Sheridan 
dashed on towards Richmond, and Custer attacked the 



684 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

first line of the fortifications, capturing^ a section of artil- 
lery. But the country about was much too warm for the 
Federal cavalry and they lurned back again, winding in 
and out of the enemy's strongholds, and reached Haxall's, 
where they rested. 

The raid was one of singular boldness, and Sheridan 
was admirably aided in it by the splendid services of 
Generals Custer and Wilson. It was the hrst of the 
striking and apparently reckless ventures into the Con- 
federate country which afterwards became such a marked 
feature of the closing campaign of the war. 

On the' 17th Sheridan left Haxall's and rejoined the 
main army, virtually making his return another raid, in 
which he indicted considerable damage. At no time on the 
return did the cavalry know the locations of either Lee 
or Grant. In the hght at Cold Harbor, the cavalry 
again did splendid service. There Wilson met Wade 
Hampton and forced him to retreat, and later on in the 
fieht he saved Burnside from beingr surrounded. 

Then Sheridan was sent to the relief of Hunter, whose 
position was not at the time known to Grant, and about 
whom there was considerable anxiety. Having pene- 
trated far into the interior, he was thoroughly detached 
from the main army. Sheridan w^as directed on the 7th 
to find him, and to destroy as much as he r.uuld of the 
James River Canal and the Virginia Central Railroad. 

Failing to find him, he returned. Hunter, after making 
his famous raid up the valley, during w^hich his troops 
had undergone such hardships as had rarely been known 
in war, turned off into the Kanawha country. 

Meanwhile, in the operations against the Weldon road, 
General Wilson did magnificent service, although at a 
heavy loss. His raid was one of the most daring ol the 
war. With his own division and four res^iments of infantry. 



THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. 685 

numbering about six thousand men in all, he marched over 
three hundred miles, directly into the line of the enemy, de- 
stroying railroad communication with Richmond and doing 
great material damage to the Confederates. He fought 
almost constandy during the ten days he was out. He 
was virtually surrounded, and at every turn he met the 
enemy in superior force. It had been his expectation to 
find Meade's left at the Weldon road, but in this he was 
very startlingly disappointed, and he was compelled to 
literally fight his way out. The infantry who had accom- 
panied him were cut off, and he discovered that he was 
in a trap. 

He had accomplished the object of the raid, however, 
great as the loss had been, and when he reached Cabin 
Point, and went into camp in safety, General Grant 
said that the damage inflicted upon the enemy was 
worth the cost. Indeed, it was his opinion that if a 
raid accomplished what had been intended, it must be 
called successful, no matter how great the disasters 
had been in loss of men. He held that it was as neces- 
sary a part of war to destroy the supplies of an enemy, 
to cut off his communications, and to retard his pro- 
gress or retreat by burning bridges and tearing up rail- 
way tracks, as it was to meet him in the open field, 
and this was service for which the cavalry was especially 
fitted. 

The danger was always great to those employed in it. 
and even with great celerity and the exercise of much sa- 
gacity, the comparative loss was, whenever the conditions 
were in the slightest degree unfavorable, greater than in" 
any other branch of the service. Yet its value to both 
sides in the contest was very marked. While the two 
great armies moved about slowly, watching each other 
with wary eyes, the troopers of the opposing forces were 



686 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

carrying on a miniature campaign of their own, which was 
a great deal more exciting, if not quite as massive. 

While Hunter was off in the mountains of West 
Virginia Early came down the Shenandoah Valley threat- 
eninp- Washington. In the midst of the political panic 
which followed, the Confederate General reached the 
gates of the national capital, just as Sheridan with his 
cavalry and the Sixth Corps, which had been hastily 
brought up from Grant's army by boat, marched out and 
repelled the further invasion of Northern soil. In follow- 
ing Early up, Sheridan found himself in the beautiful 
country beyond Harper's Ferry, the rugged gatew^ay to 
that fertile land lying between the Blue Ridge and the 
North Mountain, and stretching away to Stanton, one 
hundred and twenty-six miles to the southward. 

The fighting in the valley of the Shenandoah was 
somewhat a struggle of troopers. It w^as the granar)' 
of the Confederacy, and Early had command of it and 
was furnishing supplies to Richmond. To lay it waste 
and deprive the Confederate army of this great source 
of strength was of vast importance to the Federal cause. 
Accordingly, the Middle Military Division was formed 
and Sheridan was placed in command of it, with instruc- 
tions to attack Early, destroy his army and devastate the 
rich country upon which it had subsisted tor so long a 
time. 

General Lee recognized the importance of the threat- 
ened disaster, and Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry and Kershaw's 
division of infantry were sent to Early's aid. Sheridan 
had about eight thousand cavalry besides his infantry, 
and the opposing forces w^ere nearly equal. Early 
fell back before the Federal troops for several days 
and then encamped, awaiting the reinforcements which 
came. 



THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. tj87 

The national cavalry, meanwhile, was doing all the 
damage to the valley it could. The troopers were out 
constantly, destroying crops, driving off stock and tear- 
ing up track. The negroes were taken off also to pre- 
vent fresh planting. Meanwhile, Grant had pushed Lee 
so closely about Richmond that he felt it necessary to 
recall Anderson, who had been sent to Early's assistance. 
On the 3d of September Anderson started back, 
but, by an error, he managed to stumble into Sheridan's 
lines. The reception he received was an exceedingly 
warm one. He retreated hastily towards the Opequan, 
and remained there until Early came up and took him 
to a place of safety across the river. On the 13th he 
moved away finally, and Sheridan prepared to attack. 

On the 19th the first assault was made near Winchester, 
but the enemy was reinforced from Martinsburo-. and it 
failed. The broken lines were instantly reformed, how- 
ever, and a new attack was made. Crook made the as- 
sault on the left and forced the enemy back, and, in the 
confusion, Torbett's cavalry dashed upon Early's left and 
added to the demoralization. Almost at the same time 
Wilson, with his division of cavalry, pushed to the left and 
gained the roads to Winchester, and a final cavalry charge 
in the evening by Torbett entirely routed the panic-stricken 
Confederates, who fled from the field. Early retreated 
to the breast-works at Fisher's Hill, where he was sur- 
prised on the 2 2d and defeated with heavy loss, and by 
the 25th that portion of the \'alley of Virginia was 
clear. 

Reinforcements were again sent to Early, and his 
cavalry was placed in command of General Rosser. On 
the night of the 8th of October, Torbett, in command of. 
the Federal troopers, struck the Confederates again, 
routing them utterly, and driving them across the north 



688 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

fork of the Shenandoah. Early was in despair, and in 
his report to Lee he said: "The fact is that the enemy's 
cavalry is so superior to ours, both in numbers and equip- 
ment, that it is impossible for ours to compete with his." 

Upon his officers, Wilson, Torbett, McKenzie, Devin, 
Merritt and Gregg, most of whom were young men, 
General Sheridan had succeeded in impressing his own 
dashing personalit}\ They were a very strong group of 
men. But Custer, particularly, seemed imbued with the 
spirit which animated him. He had all the qualifications 
which belong in the make-up of a successful and chival- 
ric trooper, and he held the supreme confidence of his 
commander. He was always ready and he always did 
his best. 

Early's confidence in himself had been a fatal confi- 
dence. He had feasted too long upon the milk and 
honey of the Shenandoah. The apparent hesitancy of 
Sheridan at the beginning of the campaign had made 
him over-brave. He did not appreciate what had been 
done during that time of rest. The daring move 
towards Washington, up through the rich corn-fields, 
almost to the threshold of the frightened capital, had 
made him believe in the invincibility of his force. 

Therefore, when he operated, he did so with an under- 
estimate of his enemy, and the storm burst upon him 
with unexpected force. Sheridan swept the valley, a 
whirlwind in blue. He struck the Confederates with a 
force that was irresistible. He broke and shattered his 
army, and drove it, a huddled demoralization, to the 
nearest place of refuge, and there he remained awaiting 
assistance. 

In his final effort to get out of his difficulty and crush 
Sheridan he almost redeemed himself, however. The 
Federal General had left for Washinq^ton. The Con- 




THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, THE SCENE OF SHERIDAN's GREAT RAID. 

Q-p boy 



^90 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

federate information was that he had detached a portion 
of his force. His main army was encamped on Cedar 
Creek, The situation seemed a favorable one for attack. 

Early had been strongly reinforced, and his new num- 
bers were as great as they had been before the fight at 
Winchester or Fisher's Hill. The plans were carefully 
laid. There was to be a night attack and a surprise. 
The National army was to be cut off in the rear, and the 
annihilation was to be complete. The keen course out- 
lined just escaped success. At daylight on the 19th the 
Federal left was attacked, turned and thrown into an in- 
extricable confusion. The Sixth Corps, which was on the 
rio-ht, was forced back, and a general retreat was or- 
dered. 

The expedition of Merritt and Custer prevented the 
Confederate cavalry from seizing the Winchester road, 
and the retreat was not cut off But the army was in 
the wildest confusion, and the men were strung along 
the road towards Winchester in demoralized flight. 
Sheridan was at Winchester that morning on his way to 
the army. He heard the booming of the artillery, and 
rode rapidly in the direction of the sound. After a des- 
perate ride he reached the field to help rally the mob of 
fuo-itives that had pushed to the rear when the Federal 
left was swept away. The cavalry had done splendid 
service, and was threatening the enemy's left. The 
Federal lines were reformed, and at three o'clock an 
attack was made by the National soldiers, and Custer 
turned the right flank of the enemy, and the left also 
gave way. He then made a brilliant cavalr)^ charge, 
and, concentrating upon the enemy, routed him absolutely. 
They fled in worse confusion than the Federals had been 
in in the morning, and the Shenandoah campaign was 
ended. Early had escaped from the shipwreck of Win- 



THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. r.Ol 

Chester upon a raft ; Cedar Creek destroyed the raft. 
The troopers were his ruin. 

To follow the movements of the cavalry closely would 
be to follow the pathway of a streak of lightning. It 
flashed suddenly into the obscurity of the unknown 
country, and was lost to sight quite as suddenly. But 
every bolt told. It made its stroke, and lit up the course 
it had taken for future movements. It was the unex- 
pected which always happened. It was a quick fate 
which appeared, destroyed and disappeared. It was the 
Argus of the army, and its hundred eyes were always 
open. In the storm of general attack it was an irre- 
sistible force which kept up the spirits of the army, and 
imbued it with its vigorous courage and daring hopeful- 
ness. 

The last blow was to be struck. There was no longer 
any doubt but that Richmond must fall, and the only fear 
in Grant's mind was that Lee might escape to the moun- 
tains. All his plans were now directed to preventing 
this. On the 27th of February, 1865, Sheridan left 
Winchester with ten thousand cavalry, and proceeded 
south, destroying bridges, tearing up tracks and ruining 
the locks of the James River Canal. He reached White 
House on the 19th of March and communicated with 
General Grant. 

Ten days afterwards Grant instructed him to " cut 
loose and go over the enemy's roads." He started for 
Five Forks from Dinwiddle Court-House in the mud 
and the rain. He seized Five Forks, but the enemy 
was reinforced and he was compelled to fall back. The 
cavalry was dismounted and deployed, and the retreat 
was made in a masterly way. McKenzie's division 
of cavalry and one division of the Fifth Corps were 
sent to his assistance by Grant, and the other division 



692 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



soon followed. Sheridan again took the offensive, and 
progressed again to Five Forks, which the Confederates 
had greatly reinforced. It was the ist of April, and 
Merritt was instructed to make a feint on the Confederate 
ricrht flank while the infantry was to assault the left. 
Much depended upon the result, because the defeat of 
the Confederacy at Five Forks would force Lee out of 
Petersburg. 

It was expected that Custer would be attacked at 
daylio-ht, and Warren was ordered to assault in full 
force. The night before had been an exceedingly anx- 
ious one. Sheridan was virtually in a state of siege, 
and Devin's division was ordered on the right in the 
morning, while Custer was on the left. Crook was given 
the care of the roads. Custer was on the Scott road 
and Devin was on the main road to Five Forks. The 
fighting went on on this plan until nearly sundown, but 
little effect resulted. Warren was behind, and his delay 
was embarrassine. Sheridan rode to the front himself. 
Merritt's men made a break in the front lines, and the 
Confederates fell back to the Forks. 

Here they were struck by Griffen and the battle was 
decided. The cavalry rode into their broken ranks, and 
ever)'- effort to rally the Confederates was in vain. The 
troopers pursued and cut them down, and six thousand 
prisoners fell into the hands of the Federals. It was at 
this batde that Warren was relieved on the field. There 
was no doubt of his patriotism and good intent, but the 
situation did not admit of investigation then. His humil- 
iation was the saddest feature of the victory, and it was 
undeserved. 

After the failure of Lee in this movement, Grant 
rested about Richmond in the calm patience of assured 
power. The failing army against which his firm and 



THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. 693 

fateful operations were directed was simply a vitalized 
desperation. It was at the mercy of time. It had hopes, 
but the hopes were only a pathetic disbelief ot the in- 
evitable. The swift annoyance of the Federal cavalry 
was everywhere. It flashed upon the Confederate 
flanks, it laughed past its front, it picked up the strag- 
o-lers. It was the materialized sneer of fate at the hope- 
lessness of further opposition. 

The lines were closing, but, where there were gaps, 
the hoof-beats of the horses were heard and the sabres 
of the troopers fell. Every time they advanced far- 
ther and more recklessly into the lines, the doomed 
army knew that the great cordon which was to crush 
it was closing more tightly and menacingly around 
it. Their daring was an anticipation of the end ; an 
indication and an expression of the magnificent confi- 
dence that was behind it. 

Grant kept Lee under siege ; the cavalry cut off the 
supplies which made a prolonged resistance possible. 
In the later days Lee knew, months before he sur- 
rendered, that the war was ended. The cavalry had 
whirled through the Shenandoah a cyclone of war, 
and had left a ruined country and a shattered army 
of rebellion behind it. It had throttled the last hope at 
Five Forks. It had spun through all the lower roads of 
supply and left them barren. Wherever the Confeder- 
acy turned its eyes upon some new path for escape or 
succor, Sheridan dashed down it, or Wilson held it, or 
the yellow locks of Custer streamed in the wind. 

The man on horseback was everywhere ; across fields, 
down highways, through by-paths, he was ever present. 
In the rush and rout of Winchester, in the doubt and 
disappointment of Cedar Creek, in the storm and terror 
of Five Forks, .on the road below Appomattox, the 



694 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

cavalryman had been the vivid personification of defeat 
to the discouraged and broken soldier)' in gray. And in 
the last hours, when but one chance appeared, and the 
disheartened Confederates strove to make a juncture 
with Johnston, the sound of the hoofs on the roads be- 
yond Gordon's advance was the knell which tolled the 
failure, leading the way for the lines of infantry which 
were quietly waiting for their prey. 

Tired, worn out, and defeated, the Confederacy laid 
down its arms, and then the restless men on horseback 
rode quite entirely into the lines, were transformed into 
very kindly American citizens, and divided their rations 
with the vanquished men whose ruin they had been. In 
the last doubtful moments of the strife, when no one 
knew very clearly where any one was, the roll of musk- 
etry sounded from the road below Appomattox. " Thank 
God, there is Sheridan ! " cried Grant. The cavalry had 
found and closed the final gap. Its work was well done 
and when on that fateful morning the footmen after a 
terrible night's march, swung into line, the rebellion was 
throttled. The troopers were, as usual, the pioneers in 
the final gap. Their record on the last morning was a 
fitting finale to a long series of remarkable achievements 
and every man from Sheridan down felt a warm glow of 
satisfaction over their part in the restoration of peace. 
What was true of the cavalry that faced Lee's shattered 
army on the morning of the 9th of April, fits in a great 
degree those far away from that particular field. There 
is no brighter page of the history the horsemen made 
than Wilson's raid South to the capture of the Con- 
federate President. This was the final work of clearing 
the wreck. Kilpatrick's raid on Richmond more than a 
year before was a famous adventure. Averill's jump 
through the Valley of Virginia, about midway in the war 



THE FEDERAL TROOPERS. 695 

was a severe test of the g-enuinc quality of the cavalry. 
Custer, with his troopers, was for three years a busy- 
bee that stung Confederates often and hard. Other 
commands of horse added their blows to the general 
record of well-doing, and when it is all reckoned and 
stated it will be found that the cavalry had its full share 
in the glory of the war, if it did begin its best work 
late. 



CHAPTER L. 

GORDON BACK WITH LEE. 

Gordon ordered back to Richmond — Success of Grant in cutting off Confederate 
supplies — A historical conference — Lee's profound depression — A message from 
Grant — The assault on Fort Steadman — The last desperate battle before Peters- 
burg is evacuated — A characteristic incident — The failure — Gordon wounded 
—Death of Hill. 

Gordon had been sent to the valley of the Shenandoah 
with Early, but that officer seemed to be the favorite 
protege of misfortune. Assistance never did him any 
good. On the contrary, those who came to his aid were 
generally involved in the disasters which v/ere sure to 
happen. Gordon, splendid soldier though he was, could 
not escape the fatality of the connection. 

After the rout at Cedar Creek Gordon was ordered by 
General Lee to come to Richmond with Jackson's old 
corps, the Second, and he was placed upon the extreme 
right of the army. Things were in statu quo at the time, 
there being little change in the relative positions of the 
foes. Grant was waiting calmly and Lee was keeping 
up his resistance with no hope of ultimate success. 
Sheridan, meanwhile, had been scouring the country 
with his cavalry and had ridden clear down to the fortifi- 
cations about Richmond. General Gordon in the con- 
versation says : 

" When i got to Petersburg I was placed on the right, 
and we were in almost constant battle with varying 
results. Finally, about the latter part of February, our 
rations were nearly exhausted. The policy of Grant to 
starve us was having its effect. Our lines of road were 
in a large measure in the hands of the enemy. Thomas 
696 



GORDON BACK WITH LEE. r,07 

was on the line from Tennessee to Lynchburg^, and all 
the roads southward in the direction of Norfolk were in 
the hands of General Grant. We still had the Weldon 
line, running into North Carolina, but it required inces- 
sant fighting to hold it. The men must have something 
to eat, but they had to buy their food with blood. 

" One dark night in March, General Lee sent for me. 
His headquarters were at a little frame house in Peters- 
burg, and when I rode there I found him in an extremely 
melancholy mood. It was about 3 o'clock in the morn- 
ing. He stood leaning against the mantel, his head 
upon his hand, and his sad, thoughtful face lined with 
sorrow, a pathetic type of the cause to which he had 
given up the great years of his life. He was not a 
man given to displaying emotion, but on this occasion 
he seemed much depressed. However, when I entered, 
he straightened up and asked me take a seat. He 
explained that he wished to confer with me about the situa- 
tion. It seemed to him most serious. Producing his re- 
ports from his different commands, he laid them before me. 
The shov/inof was not an encouraorinq" one. There were, 
according to the best of my recollection, about 50,000 or 
55,000 infantry in all and a very small number of cavalry — 
between 12,000 and 15,000,1 think. He then said: 

" * General Gordon, you know the situation of the 
army so far as food and clothing are concerned. 
General Hill's corps (which was nearer to Petersburg 
than I was, and had less chance to gather forage from 
the country around) is on one-sixth of a pound of beef 
now. Six men are beinof fed on one ration. While I 
have this mere starving remnant, I estimate General 
Grant's force at 150,000 men. Besides, our men are 
dying in the hospitals from very slight wounds.' 

"I answered that I had just been in the hospital, and 



G98 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

that it was a most horrible picture. The men were so 
emaciated and had so run down in physique, that they 
could not resist anything. The slightest wound would 
kill a man when gangrene sets in. 

" General Lee continued sadly : ' The horses are dying 
in the trenches, and if General Grant were to tell me that 
I could move away if I wanted to, we could not carry off 
one-half of our artillery on account of the condition of 
the horses. You know how our cavalry is placed. Every 
time a horse is killed, I might as well have a man killed, 
because I cannot replace the horse. General Grant can 
mount as many men as he chooses,' General Lee con- 
tinued. 

" ' Our men are desperate because of sheer hunger 
and despair. They are breaking open mills and seizing 
provisions wherever they can get them. They are 
willing enough to fight, but, under the circumstances, we 
can not hold them together very much longer. The 
discipline of the army is broken. Look at the general 
situation : General Early is in the valley, with a very 
small force of cavalry. General Thomas is coming East 
with, I suppose, about 30,000 men. General Hancock 
is in the valley with 20,000 men, against whom I have 
not a vidette. General Sherman is moving up through 
North Carolina and, when he joins Schofield, will have 
from 75,000 to 100,000 men. General Johnston has 
telegraphed me to this effect : ' What can we do ? ' 

General Gordon, continuing his narative, said : "The 
picture was indeed a gloomy one. All the hopes and 
enthusiasm with which we entered the struggle had 
ended in this. Discouraged, desperate and famishing, 
fighting hopelessly against what was beyond avoidance, 
we were the ghosts of the Confederacy, going through 
our parts after we knew the curtain had gone down, and 



GORDON BACK WITH LEE. (i!)9 

the play was, for all the meaning there was in it, over. 
General Lee saw that I was affected by the sombre pic- 
ture, and he brightened up a litde : 

" ' By the way General Gordon,' he said, 'I received a 
message from General Grant to-day.' 

" ' How did you get that ? ' I asked. 

" ' Under a flag of truce sent out to arrange an 
exchange of prisoners. General Grant told the officer 
who carried it to tell me that he knew what I had for 
breakfast every morning. I sent back word, that there 
must be some mistake about it, for he must be a man of 
too much heart not to divide with me, if he really knew 
what I had. Besides, I added, that I knew quite as much 
about his dinner as he did about my breakfast.' 

" There was silence for awhile, and then General Lee 
came back to the object of the conference. 

*' * What do you think ought to be done ?' he asked. 

"'One of two things,' I replied. 'We must either 
make terms at once, and get the best we can, or we must 
fight. We cannot stand here.' 

"This conversation,' General Gordon continued, ' led to 
my transfer into Petersburg to fight, at Fort Steadman, 
the last desperate attack we made there. General Lee 
asked me to take command, and he moved out die other 
troops and put me in with my corps. I devoted a week 
to studying the lines, and then I told him that I could 
take Fort Steadman by a night attack. He asked 
me what I could do afterwards. I replied that I did not 
know about that. I then explained my plan, which was 
to concentrate a heavy force at Colquitt's salient, which 
was die salient opposite Steadman, to organize three 
or four commands of a hundred men each, with courage- 
ous officers in charge, to lead the assault, and making a 
rush across the intervening space, capture the works 



700 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

befere the Federals could fire their artillery, which was 
always kept loaded with double canister at night. 

" 1 had received, through deserters and prisoners^ 
the names of prominent Federal officers along that line. 
McLaughlin was commanding in front of us, but I have 
forgotten who was behind. My plan was to take Stead- 
man, then put the cavalry in the rear, and, after captur- 
ino- the three forts which commanded Steadman — I ex- 
pected to take them by strategy — cut the wires which 
General Grant used along his lines, take the pontoon 
across the Appomattox, and concentrate the whole army 

^^fi^tk/'fr*'-' --^^, upon that 

wing of Gen- 
eral Grant's 
force, keep- 
ing those be- 
yond Appo- 
mattox off 
while we de- 
1 ' ated the left 

-.^^MMT-- ■ ^ '''^"S:' and 
,;;:•->•' then march 

INTERIOR OF FORT ST FADMAN. X.O Gcncral 

Johnston in North Carolina and fight Sherman. This 
was our last hope, and a most desperate one. Neither 
General Lee nor myself felt very hopeful, but it w^as at 
least worth the risk. It was the only thing between us 
and surrender.and even if it failed, we could not be very 
much worse off. 

" I got my men ready, and tied a white cloth around 
each one which Mrs. Gordon had torn into strips for us 
so tliat they would know each other in the night. I 
had twenty stalwart axemen with each hundred men to 
cut down the abatis. They did their work well, and the 




GORDON BACK WITH LEE. 701 

rush was made across. We captured General Mc- 
Laughlin and eight hundred or nine hundred prisoners 
eleven pieces of artillery and nine mortars. The entire 
business did not take longer than twenty minutes, and 
we lost in the charge only one man, who was killed with 
a bayonet. The prisoners were sent to the rear. 

"There were three forts behind Fort Steadman which 
commanded it. It was absolutely necessary for us to 
gain them before dayhght ; but it would have to be done 
by strategy. They were impregnable to assault, bul 
there was a way of getting around behind and going in. 
The three bodies of a hundred men were each to move 
back throuQfh the reserves which were behind Fort 
Steadman. I selected guides who knew the country 
well, and put one with each command. To the leading 
officer of each of the bands of one hundred men I gave 
the name of some Federal officer doing duty in my 
front. My recollection is that I named one of them 
Lieutenant-Colonel Pendergrast, of the One-Hundred- 
and-Seventeenth Pennsylvania. At any rate, there was 
a Lieutenant-Colonel Pendergrast among those who 
were in my front, and there was a Colonel Somebody, of 
the Fourteenth Heavy Artillery. 

" I said to one of these officers : ' You are Lieutenant- 
Colonel Pendergrast, of the One Hundred and Seven- 
teenth Pennsylvania. We are going to take that fort, 
and when it is taken, you are to rush behind through the 
Federal lines, shouting that the rebels have carried every- 
thing in front. Say that you are Lieutenant-Colonel 
Pendergrast, and that you are ordered to take your regi- 
ment and occupy the fort, and then do it. Say that you 
have no time for explanations, but must go right ahead.' 

"We first took Fort Steadman by a bold dash. 
Then the three commands of a hundred each went back 



702 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

and through the rear Hne. They were not stopped, 
except by a question as to where they were going. But 
they did not take the forts. They lost their guides, who 
either deserted or became frightened, and, when daylight 
came, they were all captured or shot down. 

" When dawn broke, we were watching the forts anx- 
iously to see if they had been taken, but the message we 
got was not an agreeable one. As soon as the sun gave 
its first light, the artillery was brought out on the hills be- 
hind, the guns of the forts were turned loose, and the 
slauo-hter beean. We lost I think fifteen hundred men 
in o-etting- back to our lines, and I was myself wounded 
in the leo-. Several thine^s made the movement a fail- 
ure. The select bodies failed to capture the rear forts. 
General Pickett, who was to be added to my command, 
failed to get there because the train broke down, and 
the cavalry could not be used because of other troubles. 

" The night on which we took Fort Steadman was an 
ordinary March night. There was starlight, but no 
moon, just before the charge was made, I was standing 
on the breastworks, trying to move my own obstructions 
out of the way, secresy being the essential part of the 
movement, when one of theFederal pickets, very close 
to us, said: 

" ' Hallo, Johnny, what are you making all that noise 
about? What are you doing there ? ' " 

" It disconcerted me very much. I expected that the 
artillery would open on us the next moment. I had my 
men on the breastworks ready for the rush. Just then a 
soldier whom I had instructed to fire a musket as the 
signal to dash forward came to my relief. 

" ' Oh, never mind, Yank,' he said. ' Lie down and go 
to sleep. We are just gathering a litde corn. You know 
rations are mighty short over here.' 



GORDON BACK WITH LEE. 703 

" ' All right, Johnny ; go ahead and gadier your corn,' 
replied the picket ; ' I am not going to shoot.' 

"There was silence for a minute, and then I gave my 
order, ' Fire your musket.' 

"The fellow's conscience seemed to hurt him, and he 
hesitated. 

" ' Fire your musket ! ' I repeated sternly. 

" ' Wake up, Yank,' he cried, ' we are going to shell 
the woods,' giving the picket time to get out of the way. 

"Then the onset was made. Our axemen cut down the 
abatis, made of rails, wrapped with telegraph wires. We 
entered the fort and captured the men asleep at the guns. 

" From that time until the surrender I never had my 
boots off I was on horseback most of the day and much 
of the night, until the final break-up. The fighting was 
incessant from then on. Grant immediately assumed the 
offensive, and finally broke through A. P. Hill's lines. The 
heaviest attack was made there, and Hill was killed in 
trying to stop it. They also broke through mine, but did 
not get any distance in. Then our retirement began Five 
Forks and Sailor's Creek were the next two battles of 
significance. My command was the last to come out of 
Petersbrug. I brought up the rear until the 7th, fighting 
continually. We had almost nothing to eat, and I must 
have lost thirty pounds in the time between the fight at 
Fort Steadman and the surrender." 

The attack upon Steadman illustrates the desperate 
straits in which the Confederacy was. It was merely a 
forlorn hope inspired by the dream of joining Johnston. 
It was hard to give up after all the hardships they had 
endured, and the most remote chances were taken. The 
fates had ruled otherwise, however. The sands were 
running out rapidly, and further resistance would be a 
wanton waste of life. 



CHAPTER LI. 

THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 

The armies of co-operation — Tiie instructions to Sherman — " Penetrate the interior 
as far as you can " — Moving on Johnston — The evacuation of Dalton — Resaca — 
The assault on Kenesaw — McPherson killed — Fall of Atlanta — " Go as you pro- 
pose " — The march begun — Buoyancy of the soldiere — Fright of the inhabitants — 
Arrival at Milledgeville — On to Savannah — Wheeler in the rear — At last. 

General Grant's leading idea in accepting the com- 
mand of all the forces of the United States was that it 
would secure the necessary concentration of the armies 
for a common aim. In the past there had been too 
much hap-hazard and desultory work. The national 
forces had been spendthrift of strength, and the results 
reached were out of proportion to the number of soldiers 
and wealth of resources employed. The lieutenant- 
general felt that the surer way would be to have all the 
leading-strings in his hand, and make a campaign of the 
whole, instead of relying upon the unconnected efforts 
of fractions. He did not contract the usefulness of his 
generals in carrying out the plan, however. He simply 
gave the general outline, and left them free to execute. 
" So far as possible," he wrote to Meade on April 9, 
1864, "all the armies are to move together and towards 
a common centre." In his letter of the 4th of the same 
month to General Sherman he detailed what he wanted 
done. Banks was ordered to finish up his expedition to 
Shreveport and move on Mobile. Gilmore was to join 
Butler and operate against Richmond from the south 
side of the James. Sigel and Crook were instructed to 
move agrainst the Virsfinia and Tennessee Railroad. The 

(704) 



THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 705 

most important order was sent to Sherman. It ran : ' I 
do not propose to lay down for you a plan of campaicrn, 
but simply to lay down the work it is desirable to have 
done, and leave you free to execute it in your own way. 
You I propose to move against Johnston's army, to break 
it up and get into the interior of the; enemy's country as 
far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against 
their war resources." 

That famous militar)^ picnic had all the elements cal- 
culated to catch the popular heart. It was a daring in- 
spiration, and 
it was thor- 
oughly s u c- 
cessful. Its 
moral effect 
was great in 
the North, 
and it filled 
the South 
with gloom 
and forebod- 
ing. It closed 
the last port fort de rossy. 

which the national blockade could not control, and it 
kept the Confederates so busy that they could not send 
any reinforcements to Richmond. But it was not as 
great in military achievement as the preliminary cam- 
paign which made the march possible. The fighting be- 
fore and immediately after the fall of Adanta was of 
much larger importance, and displayed Sherman's gow^- 
ralship in a far higher degree. The march to the sea 
and its results were the natural sequence. 

This great campaign of co-operation was opened on 
the 5th day of May. Sherman had accumulated sup- 

2U 




706 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



plies, and the army was lightened as much as possible. 
No unnecessary baggage was allowed, and the com- 
mander himself set the example of taking only what he 
absolutely needed. 

General Joe Johnston was at Dalton. To say that he 
was one of the great Confederate chieftains would not 
do him justice. He was very much more than this. His 

military sa- 
gacity was un- 
usual. Grant 
himself held 
him to be the 
great South- 
ern general of 
the war. He 
combined pru- 
dence with 
daring. H e 
possessed a 
comprehen- 
sive intelli- 
gence which 
did not sacri- 
fice a great 
stake for tran- 
sitory glory. 
He did not 
GENKRAL joK JOHNSTON. ^g^^t for dra- 

matic effect, but for practical results. When it was neces- 
sary to retreat, he did not hesitate to do so because of a 
fear that his movement might be misconstrued into a de- 
feat. He recognized fully that it was his part to take 
care of his army, and to use it when it could be used in a 
way which would secure advantage. He was a splendid 




THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 707 

exponent of intelligent war. Thus Sherman, at the be- 
ginning of his campaign, had a man before him who was 
far-seeing, cool and calculating. 

The enemy were encamped in Buzzard's Roost, the 
approach to Dalton, a wild gorge which was admirably 
adapted for defence. The creek which ran through it 
had been dammed up and the roadway was covered 
with the waters of an artificial lake. On the heights on 
either side the guns were placed, black and silent threats 



ao:amst mtrusion. 



To attack such a position would be madness, and 
Sherman had no intention of doing so. He knew that 
he had a large advantage in numbers, and he determined 
to utilize this. McPherson was sent to the rear to cap- 
ture the railroad which furnished the Confederate army 
■with its supplies. He had about twenty-three thousand 
men with him, and Hooker was close at hand to assist. 
He stopped just short of Resaca, refraining from mak- 
ing an attack because he believed the enemy to be too 
strongly intrenched. Johnston saw that he was in a trap 
and determined to get out as soon as possible. He was 
not strong enough to assault, and his only object was to 
act on the active-defensive. On the iith he evacuated 
Dalton and, by a quick and exceedingly well-executed 
movement, got his army into Resaca before they could 
be struck in the confusion of the retreat. On the 14th 
Resaca was invested and the day following there was 
fiorhtino- all around it. McPherson trained a ridgfe which 
overlooked the town and trained his field artillery upon 
the bridge across the Oostenaule, and all efforts to drive 
him away were unsuccessful. Again Johnston was 
alert. He knew that to stay in Resaca longer would 
be folly, and, on the same night, by another masterly 
movement, he got his army across the river and left 
Resaca clear for Federal occupation. 



708 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The Confederates retreated to Kingston, making a 
show ot fighting all the way. There Johnston drew up 
in hostile form, but, when the Federals came up again, 
he fell back upon Cassville in splendid order, and para- 
pets were thrown up. All the appearances indicated a 
battle at Cassville, and Sherman brought up his availa- 
ble forces, but when the day broke the wily Confederate 
was nowhere to be seen. He had slipped away again 
and gotten beyond the Etowah river. At Cassville 
Johnston had intended to give battle and had made all 
preparations, but a lack of confidence in the good faith 
of his corps commanders made him change his mind. 

After this avoidance Sherman found himself some 
distance from his base of supplies, and he stopped where 
he was for ten days. Then he moved towards Dallas, 
through a wooded and mountainous country. The rain 
was falling heavily and marching was very difficult. At 
New Hope the enemy was found and there was a week 
of strong skirmishing. Then Sherman pursued his 
favorite tactics of outflanking the Confederates and they 
fell back to Kenesaw. From the beginning of the cam- 
paign until that time Johnston had retreated a hundred 
miles. 

It was the optimistic theory of the Confederacy that 
Johnston was simply drawing Sherman on : that it was 
his intention to decoy him into the interior and there 
crush him. But this was absurd. At Cassville John- 
ston had about sixty thousand men, while Sherman had 
a hundred thousand. The Confederate was too shrewd 
a general to fight against such odds. He did not fight 
for the sake of ficrhtincr, but because he wanted to win, 
and he would not enter a battle unless he felt some 
surety of a victory. He fell back before the Federal 
army because he was forced to, and his retreat was 



THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 709 

made in good form because he had miles of fortified 
positions behind him. 

June had come. A rainy spell had set in and it con- 
tinued with dreary persistency. There were no roads and 
they had to be made for the supply trains. The enemy 
occupied three hills, of which Kenesaw was the extreme, 
and ten miles of irregular intrenchments were thrown 
up in front of them. From their lofty perch the Con- 
federates could overlook every movement made in the 
Federal camp. Chance firing went on between the two 
lines, and a stray shell killed General Polk, one of John- 
ston's corps commanders. The Confederate line, as 
formed, was too long and too much weakened, but be- 
fore the 20th two of the hills had been abandoned and 
Johnston had concentrated at Kenesaw. 

On the 27th of June an effort was made to make a 
breach in the fortified lines, but it was a failure, although 
the Federals made a considerable advance and held 
their ground. The intrenchments were too strong to 
be carried by assault, and Sherman at once decided to 
move the army to the Chattahoochee river, ten miles 
below, and cut Johnston off. But the wary Confederate 
could not be caught in this way. During the night he 
abandoned Kenesaw and retreated to an intrenched 
camp on the west bank of the Chattahoochee river. 
The movement was made with great skill. 

The forward advance of the Federal army had now 
brought it within ten miles of Atlanta, the principal 
railroad centre of that portion of the South. The 
greatest alarm prevailed among the citizens. They were 
surprised and startled at the close proximity of the 
national troops. Johnston was warmly denounced lor 
not having given batde before, and a cry went up for 
his removal. His friends attempted to stem the popular 



710 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

clamor, but in vain, and, in the midst of it, he was re- 
lieved and Hood placed in command. 

Hood was put in to fight and he did fight. On the 
20th of July he made his first attack on the Federal 
rio-ht. but was repulsed after two hours of hard combat 
Sherman at once advanced his lines much nearer At- 
lanta and close to the Confederate intrenchments. Two 
days later another attack was made and the batde con- 
tinued all day. The brunt of it was borne by the Army 
of the Tennessee. The Confederates were again re- 
pulsed ; but, early in the day, General McPherson was 
killed. The investment of Adanta continued for some 
days, during which time the city was shelled. Then 
the Federal army moved below it to occupy the railroad. 
The old tacUcs were again successful. Almost immedi- 
ately the enemy evacuated Adanta and General Slocum 
entered it. The aggregate loss in killed, wounded 
and missing during the three months' campaign was 
31,687 on the Federal and 34,479 on the Confederate 
side. 

The fall of Atlanta was a great victory. It had been 
accomplished with less loss of life than might have been 
expected under the circumstances. Sherman had ad- 
vanced for more than a hundred and twenty-five miles 
through a thoroughly fortified country. He now held the 
city which was known as the " gateway of the South," 
and whose loss to the Confederacy could hardly be over- 
estimated. He had shown the best genius of general- 
ship in his conduct of the campaign, and he merited the 
enthusiasm with which the news of the victory was re- 
ceived in the North. He struck the enemy a severe blow. 

The general orders to Sherman had been to penetrate 
into the interior of Georgia and inflict as much damage 
as he could upon the Confederate resources, but he im- 




>P SAVANNAH , 

^ / vfeL^J, 

MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OK SHERMAN'S ARMY IHRUUGH SOU I H TAKOUN.^ 

(711) 



712 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

proved upon these. In his letter to Grant, on Septem- 
ber 20th, he said: "The more I study the game, the 
more I am convinced that it would be wronof for us to 
penetrate farther into Georgia without any objective 
beyond. It would not be productive of much good, I 
will therefore give it as my opinion that I should keep 
Hood employed and put my army in fine order for a 
march on Augusta, Columbia and Charleston." 

As soon as the idea of getting to the sea came into 
Sherman's mind it remained there. He insisted upon it 
in all his despatches, but the authorities at Washington 
and General Grant were slow to acquiesce. They be- 
lieved that Hood should be crushed out first, but Hood 
was hard to get at, Sherman insisted that Thomas had 
enough men to take care of Hood, and subsequent 
events proved that he was right. It was not until No- 
vember 2d that Grant telegraphed him, " Go on as you 
propose," and ten days later he was ready. 

The supplies were sent to the rear, the railroad was 
destroyed, the wires were cut and all communication 
with the North abruptly ended. The army was purged 
of sick men and non-combatants, and only the absolute 
essentials were to be taken. The force aggregated 
about sixty-two thousand. 

On the 15th the army started. It was divided into 
two columns — one movin^r towards Madison and the 
other to follow the railroad towards Jonesboro,' The 
point of junction was to be Milledgeville, a hundred 
miles away. It was a glorious day. The air was brisk and 
bracing and the men were in splendid spirits and impa- 
tient to be off Every one was full of hope and the 
army believed that it was going to end the rebellion as 
once. It had been uniformly victorious and it felt great 
confidence in its prowess. It had complete trust in its 



THE MARCH TO THE SEA. 713 

commander and little fear of Hood's columns that were 
moving aimlessly far to the northwest. The able-bodied 
negroes who had been allowed to accompany the expe- 
dition frisked about joyously, seeing freedom in the 
swinging and confident step of their blue-coated friends. 

The first night was spent near Lithonia mountain. 
Miles of railway had been torn up and huge fires were 
built of the ties, at which the rails were heated and 
twisted out of all semblance of utility. The volatile 
commander was anxious that this part of the work 
should be well done, and he moved about among the 
men, encouraging them at their work. They were full 
of the abandon of the daring move, and laughed and 
jested to their hearts' content. They were buoyant and 
confident. There was no thought of danger or failure. 
Just beyond, the mountain loomed up solemn and dig- 
nified, looking down with sombre indifference upon the 
scene below. In the very heart of a hostile country, 
with all their communications in the rear cut off, march- 
ing away from the possibility of reinforcement, they 
were joyous and light-hearted. 

Covington was the first town they passed through. 
The negroes could hardly conceal their delight. To 
them the long, dusty columns were material evidence 
that the day of Jubilee had come. They saw the procla- 
mation of emancipation moving by in the careless, con- 
fident soldiery. But the whites were sadly startled. 
Their leaders had been very boastful in pronunciamentos, 
and this was a sorry vindication of them. The invasion 
was a surprise which was not kindly received. 

The Federals were on the direct way to the State 
capital. They had been ordered to subsist off of the 
country, and they were helping themselves as they went 
along. At the capital the legislature was huddled in 



714 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

terror. It passed an act calling upon the people to repel 
the invader, and then packed its baggage and hurried 
out of the way. General Beauregard issued a procla- 
mation appealing to the citizens to obstruct and destroy 
all the roads, and starve the enemy out, but the procla- 
mation came too late. One minor attack was made 
upon the Federal right, near Griswoldville, but it was 
repulsed with great slaughter. 

Sherman reached Milledgeville and rested. The 
State authorities had hurried out. There was nothing 
to do but to take account of things and go on. So, on 
the 24th, he took up the march again. Detached por- 
tions of the army were attacked by Wheeler, who was 
following behind with cavalry, but the fighting did not 
amount to much. Kilpatrick once got too far behind 
and the enemy came between him and the army, but he 
cut his way through. At Reynolds' plantation there 
was a sharp, heavy skirmish, but Wheeler was repulsed. 
Some brisk fighting of a minor character followed after- 
wards, in which Wheeler was more than worsted. 

On December 3d the army reached Millen, and cut 
the railway communications between Savannah and 
Augusta. From this time on there was virtually no 
opposition. The Confederates hovering in the rear had 
become cautious, and refrained from attack. The march 
was nearly at its end. The soil was sandy, and forage 
was not so easy to obtain. There was a scent of salt in 
the air, and a consciousness of a great feat accomplished 
in the face of the leader. Five days later Savannah was 
invested, communication opened with the fleet, and the 
last railway cut. The march had been accomplished, the 
country had been devastated, five hundred miles of rail- 
way had been destroyed, and the forage had been con- 
sumed on a broad swath of country at least fifty miles 
across. Sherman had cut the Confederacy in two. 




MAP SHOWING COUNTRY FROM NASHVILLE. TENN.. TO DECATUR. ALA. 

(715) 



716 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Savannah did not last long. Resistance was hopeless. 
On the 2 1 St Hardee moved out, and Generals Slocum 
and Howard moved in. Thorough communication with 
the Federal fleet in the harbor had been established be- 
fore. The Confederate army had escaped, but the vic- 
tory was a pronounced one. It was especially important 
in its moral effect. It confirmed the deep depression 
which had fallen upon the South with the capture of 
Atlanta, and it encouraged the North to send forward 
assistance for the accomplishment of the main work at 
Richmond. Comparatively no resistance had been 
offered to Sherman on his march, and yet the move- 
ment was full of far-reaching consequences. It was a 
victory won without the shedding of much blood, and 
yet it inspired the nation more than did Vicksburg or 
the fall of Atlanta. It was a stroke of genius, and its 
execution was followed by results of importance. 

There has been a great deal of discussion as to who 
was the author of the idea which led to the march, but 
the immediate credit certainly belongs to Sherman, No 
sooner had he occupied Atlanta than he looked to the 
east. Grant's general orders had been that he should 
penetrate the interior: but, at the time, the authorities 
were afraid of Hood's operations. Sherman was not. 
He believed that Thomas could take care of Hood. He 
felt that at Atlanta his army would be idle, and that to 
leave Georgia would have a bad effect. He saw only 
one thing to do, and this was to go forward ; and in 
every despatch he sent to either the commander or to 
Washington he insisted upon it. And finally the answer 
came, "Go as you propose," And he went. It is evi- 
dent that the march to the sea was the result of condi- 
tions which grew as Sherman advanced through Georgia. 



CHAPTER LII. 

THE LAST YEAR OF STRIFE. 

How the armies were placed— Sheridan in the valley — Ord's movements Visit of 

President Lincoln — He sees a battle instead of a review — Sherman arrives His 

conversation with Lincoln — The understanding between them — Another great 
battle certain— Lincoln desires to avoid it — Sherman returns to North Carolina- 
Sheridan. 

The last year of the war opened well for the Union 
forces and badly for the Confederates. Grant's grip was 
every day tightening upon the waning lines of the 
enemy about Petersburg, and Sherman was resting his 
army at Savannah. Sheridan was preparing for his last 
move up the valley, and all the co-operating forces were 
arranging for the final blow. Grant suggested to Sher- 
man that he bring his forces by sea to join the main 
army ; but Sherman said he preferred to march overland 
through the Carolinas and would form a junction with 
Grant near Burksville. Thus Lee's army would be be- 
tween the upper and the nether mill-stone. This plan 
was agreed upon, and the result is familiar history. 

While Sherman was making ready Grant was not idle. 
Late in January a movement to the left was planned, 
and on the 5th of that month the Second and Fifth corps 
were sent out, with Gregg's cavalry leading, to Dinwiddie 
Court-House, and the next day the Sixth corps (which 
had returned from the Shenandoah valley in November), 
and the Ninth were also moved in reserve. Some heavy 
fighting ensued, but no general engagement, and on 
the 15th all was quiet again. But the Union line had 
been extended further westward and now rested along 

(717) 



718 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the Vaughan road to the lower part of Hatcher's run, 
to which point the military railway had been extended 
from City Point. 

Sheridan left Winchester February 27th with his 
cavalry, and the third day after chased Early into his in- 
trenchments at Waynesboro', and captured the whole 
command — men, guns, flags and supplies. Early him- 
self narrowly escaped and was never given another im- 
portant command. The next day Sheridan reached 
Charlotteville and waited two days for his trains, while 
his busy troopers destroyed the railway each side, and 
then divided his command. One division reached James 
river canal and destroyed its locks, while the other 
column pushed to Amherst Court-House toward Lynch- 
burg, and thence to New Market, where the divisions re- 
united. Here, the high water prevented the crossing of 
the James, so Sheridan turned eastward, and after a 
brilliant march reached White House on the Pamunkey 
on the 19th. In his track there had been nothing left 
undestroyed that was of value to aid the Confederate 
force, and Sheridan was now free to join Grant for the 
last struo-ofle. 

Hancock was assigned to tlie middle military division 
and Humphreys was commanding the Second corps, 
while the cavalry was again given to Sheridan. 

The end was drawing very near, and Grant's only fear 
was that so skilful a soldier as Lee might make an effort 
to break away and join his force with that of Johnston 
in Sherman's front, when it would be easy to reacli the 
mountains. 

With this contingency in view he prepared, on the 
24th, extended orders in detail for a movement to begin 
March 29th. General Ord, with three divisions of the 
Army of the James, was ordered to the extreme left of 



THE LAST YEAR OF STRIFE. 719 

the Army of the Potomac. The Ninth corps, with Parke, 
was directed to hold the Hne of fortifications, while Sheri- 
dan was to swing- in advance. General Godfrey Weitzel 
was left in command of what remained of the Army of 
the James. 

Ord's movement to join was fixed for the 27th, but 
Lee precipitated matters by assuming the offensive. 
Very early in the morning of the 25th, the divisions of 
Gordon and Bushrod Johnson, under General Gordon, 
massed quietly in front of the Ninth corps, at the re- 
doubt known as Fort Steadman, and rushed just at day- 
break on that work, capturing it handsomely, with the 
flanking works known as batteries Nine, Ten and Eleven, 
and turned the guns on the expelled men. The dash 
was only excelled by Hancock's charge at Spottsylvania 
salient, but Gordon failed, with all his gallantry, to hold 
his prize. 

The men of Wilcox's division caught themselves at 
Fort Haskell, not far away, and, reforming, went back as 
troops seldom go that have just met reverses. Hart- 
ranft's division, also of the Ninth corps, advanced at the 
same time with Wilcox, and Gordon was thrust out from 
his prize to ground so swept by a cross-fire diat Hart- 
ranft was left with nearly two thousand prisoners. The 
counter-assault had been so sudden and heavy that the 
retakinor ^vas as brilliant as the first. 

The whole thing was over ia a brief time, but the 
affair acted on Grant like a pre-arranged signal, and 
Meade was instructed to send in the whole line. The 
commander seemed to be as well aware as was Lee that 
Gordon's movement was a sort of forlorn hope, the suc- 
cess of which meant a juncture with Johnston. The 
effect on the troops had been magnetic, and the pro- 
posed review for which they were found preparing was 



720 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

changed to the operation of a great general engage- 
ment. 

President Lincoln was present to witness the review, 
but saw a battle and a victory, which he declared was 
much better. Hill's line was broken. The beeinnino- 
of the end was started, and four days before Grant had 
planned for it. 

Wricrht dashed in with the Sixth on Parke's left and 
seized the Confederate advanced line. The Second 
corps moved forward still further to the left and grasped 
the picket line in front, and President Lincoln saw his 
promised review after all, for as Crawford's division 
trotted past to go into action, they gave him a marching 
salute. The advantage rested with the Union army all 
that day. 

Two days later, while the arrangements were still un- 
der way, Sherman came to City Point from Goldsboro', 
North Carolina, where his army had arrived and was 
resting while being supplied, and Grant explained to 
him in detail the plans he had adopted. 

This was the first time that Grant had met Sherman 
since he had bidden adieu to the Army of the Tennessee, 
and, as may be imagined, the meeting was a cordial as 
well as an important one. President Lincoln was still at 
City Point, and General Sherman took occasion to have 
a conference with him. Speaking of that interview, 
General Sherman now says : 

"From the looks of things it was very evident that 
the end was near. It was also apparent that either 
Grant or myself would have to fight at least one more 
great battle. Mr. Lincoln was exceedingly anxious that 
further bloodshed should be avoided if possible. He 
said that he hoped that the war might end without another 
battlco He continued, that what he wanted Grant and I 



THE LAST YEAR OF STRIFE, 721 

to do was to stop the fighting, send the Southern soldiers 
home and get them at work as soon as possible. Mr. 
Lincoln's feelings, as expressed to us at the time, were 
exceedingly kindly, and they found expression in the 
terms I accorded to Joe Johnston. His ideas, as out- 
lined during this meeting at City Point, comprehended 
the restoration of the existing State administrations as 
governments de facto until Congress could pass upon the 
question. 

" His entire conversation sucfcrested a broad and lib- 
eral treatment of the Southern people. I said to him : 

" ' Mr. President, there will be no trouble about the 
soldiers ; but what about the civilians ? ' 

" ' Oh,' he replied, ' we will leave a way open for them 
to get out.' 

" ' What about Jeff Davis and men of that character ? ' 
I inquired. 

" He said he could not commit himself on that sub- 
ject, but he felt a great deal like the man who had sworn 
off drinking. A neighbor invited him to have a glass of 
lemonade. A botde of brandy stood near, and the host 
sueeested that a litde liquor in it would not hurt. The 
abstainer remarked, ' No, I don't mind the liquor, if you 
can slip it in unbeknownst to me.' 

"I clearly understood the application and replied, 
'Very well; I think there will be no difficulty about the 
restoration of peace, but we will have to have at least 
another bloody batde. Both Generals Johnston and 
Lee are soldiers of superior quality and are not going 
to surrender without a fight.' 

"I then anticipated that Lee would try to make a 
junction with Johnston and that their combined forces 
would strike me about Raleigh. I had So,ooo as fine 
troops as were ever marshalled, and was thoroughly able 

2V 



722 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

to repel any attack that could be made by Lee and 
Johnston combined. 

•• Mr. Lincoln said he was glad to hear it, but wished 
very much that 1 was back with my army in North Caro- 
lina. 

" I told him that no emergency could arise that Gen- 
eral Schofield was not competent to meet. 

"'Well,' he replied, ' that may be true, but I should 
feel very much easier if you were back.' 

" I told him that I intended to return that day, as soon 
as my boat was ready. 

"The protocol with Johnston, submitted to the govern- 
ment for approval, was within range of Mr. Lincoln's 
policy, as he then mapped it out to me. If there was 
any change in Mr. Lincoln's plans after he communicated 
them to General Grant and myself at City Point I was 
not advised." 

Grant and Sherman parted that day, after this inter- 
view witli Mr. Lincoln, and their subsequent meeting is 
treated of elsewhere. Grant at once continued prepara- 
tions for the spring campaign, and Sherman did the 
same. 

The afternoon of March 29th, Sheridan, with his 
nine thousand cavalry under Crook and Merritt, had 
moved past Ream's station to Dinwiddie Court- 
House, and Grant was at Gravelly run, whence he 
wrote Sheridan not to cut loose from the army, as had 
before been intended, but to push round the enemy's 
right. 

The next day Sheridan seized upon Five Forks, 
makinor the move in a fierce storm of rain that lialtcd 
everything on wheels, and had a sharp fight. Warren 
was attacked and checked and then slowly but steadily 
forced back, division by division, and finally the enemy 



THE LAST YEAR OE STRIFE. 723 

turned his whole attention to Sheridan and forced him 
back to Dinwiddie, where another batde was fouf^dit 
which residted in victory for the Union cavalrymen. 
The latter at once followed up his advantage and again 
advanced to Five Forks, which he held. 

The Fifth corps was now added to Sheridan's imme- 
diate command, this being on the istof April. War- 
ren did not satisfy his new chief and this day was 
relieved on the field and Griffin succeeded in command 
of the corps. 

General Grant formed a very high estimate of Sheri- 
dan from his operations of the past two days, and de- 
clared that his conduct showed great generalship. When 
he had pressed the Confederates back within their works, 
he ordered Merritt to demonstrate as if to attack their 
right, while he swung round with the Fifth corps and 
struck the left flank and wholly crushed it, driving the 
opposing lines in rout. The pursuit was kept up for 
half a dozen miles, until darkness put an end to the 
work of the tired troops. Between five and six thou- 
sand prisoners had fallen into Sheridan's hands and the 
remainder continued their flicrht westward. 

Grant now considered Sheridan's position very haz- 
ardous. The enemy might concentrate and overpower 
him unless their attention was fully occupied along the 
whole line. Miles, with a division of the Second corps, 
was sent to his aid, and, attacking under Sheridan's di- 
rection, gallandy drove the enemy back. In order fur- 
ther to relieve the cavalry. Grant ordered every corps to 
endeavor to pierce the enemy's lines in his front so as 
to prevent Lee from further weakening his defences in 
order to concentrate an overwhelming force and defeat 
the flanking movement. The orders issued at this time 
showed the desire of the commanding general to im- 



724 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

press upon each subordinate commander the necessity 
for the utmost vigor and pertinacity in their attacks. 
Having instructed them thus minutely he spent the re- 
mainder of the evening awaiting reports from Sheridan, 
about whom his anxiety was intense. 

It was at this time that Sheridan made his greatest 
reputation as a co-operating commander upon whom 
every dependence could be placed. He seemed to have 
an anticipatory idea of every move which Grant intended, 
and he showed the greatest confidence in his manner of 
carrying out what he knew his chief would approve. 
Perhaps the greatest part of Sheridan's army career 
will be considered that which included his operations 
about Richmond in the closing days of the war. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

THE ARMY BEFORE PETERSBURG. 

Failure to carry Petersburg by assault — Despondency in the North — Enormous death- 
roll — Grant farther from Richmond — President Lincoln's firm confidence — His 
predictions — He visits City Point— Operating against the Weldon Road — Butler's 
move on Deep Bottom — Battle of Reams' Station — Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry beaten 
— Southside railroad at Banksville torn up — Narrow escape of the Union cavalry — 
The army resting — The siege begun. 

The very night of the last assault Grant expressed to 
Meade his opinion that all had been done that could be 
done to carry the works, and that they would thereafter 
endeavor to gain advantage without assaulting fortifica- 
tions. The men were wearied from their seven-weeks' 
campaign of hard fighting and marching, and needed 
repose. He had concluded to rest the command, "and 
use the spade for their protection until a new vein can 
be struck." 

One unfortunate result of the failure to grasp Peters- 
burg was the feeling of depression that pervaded the 
North. The public did not penetrate the strategic value 
and importance of the move across the James River, and 
only understood that Grant had moved twenty-five miles 
farther away from Richmond, and that Lee was in his 
front and fortified. They believed that Grant had been 
out-generaled by Lee and forced to his present position. 
None realized the value of Beauregard's action to the 
Confederate cause in throwing troops into Petersburg, 
nor the strange failure of Smith to take what he had won. 
Already the heavy losses in the almost-continuous fight- 
ino- from the Wilderness to this point had depressed the 
public, and the corresponding losses of Lee, even while 

72.5 



720 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

he fought for the most part in intrenched positions, were 
not known to the people. 

The war had grown so heavy a burden, and the list of 
dead and maimed roll was so large, that prayers were 
offered up for the ending of the struggle, for peace ; many 
wanted it at any price, so that bloodshed might cease. To 
the people the possession of the Confederate capital 
meant peace, and that was the goal desired ; yet here 
was Grant farther from Richmond than he had been a 
month before. 

Many lost faith in the man of victory, who came less 
than six months before from his triumphs in the West to 
battle with Lee; but President Lincoln was never one of 
these. He was stanch in his belief in Grant, and came 
at once to the rescue. He sent an approving dispatch 
to him, and on June i8th addressed a public meeting in 
Philadelphia, where he said : " We are going through 
with our task, so far as I am concerned, if it takes us 
three years longer. I am not in the habit of making 
predictions, but I am almost tempted now to hazard one. 
It is, that Grant is this morning in a position, with Meade 
and Hancock, of Pennsylvania, where he will never be 
dislodged by the enemy until Richmond is taken." 

This, of course, was telegraphed to all quarters, and 
was a great help in cheering the public heart. President 
Lincoln did still more to show Grant and the country how 
strong and abiding was his faith in his chief captain. On 
the next Tuesday, the President visited General Grant at 
City Point. During the day both rode to the front, and 
visited the lines at Petersburg and Bermuda Hundred, 
where they were received with great enthusiasm by the 
soldiers, especially by the colored troops, who had so dis- 
tinguished themselves at Cold Harbor and Petersburg. 

The rest proposed by Grant for his men was of short 



THE ARMY BEFORE PETERSBURG. 727 

duration, for he at once began operations to envelop the 
enemy. Smith and the eighteenth corps wete sent back 
to Buder, on the north side of the Appomattox, and 
Wrio-ht's divisions returned to Meade. One ot Han- 
cock's old wounds had forced him to leave die field, and 
Birney was commanding the second corps, Builer ex- 
tended his line to the left, so that the sixth, where Smith 
had been, was relieved, and that corps, w^th the second 
was withdrawn from 
the line and moved 
to the extreme left, 
pointing at the seiz- 
ure of the Weldon 
Railroad, with the 
Appomattox Avest of 
Petersbu rg as the ob- 
jective. Brooks had 
relieved Gilmore, in 
command of the 
Tenth corps under 
Butler, and Ferraro's f^ 
division of colored 
troops was added to 
the Ninth corps. 

On the morning 
that Lincoln visited 
the armies the posi- 
tion was: Smith w^as pushed across the Appomat- 
tox and held the extreme right where Wright had 
been, with the Fifth and Ninth corps occupying tiie 
line of intrenchments across the City Point and Nor- 
folk railways and to the Jerusalem Plank road. The 
same morning Birney and Wright pushed rapidly out for 
the Weldon railroad, which remained the chief artery of 




PRESIDENT LINXOLN. 



728 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

supply for the beleagured enemy. The second corps 
movement was to connect beyond Warren with Wright, 
who was expected to extend to the desired point. The 
enemy detected the movement and its object, and acting 
quite as rapidly the advance had only reached Davis' 
farm on the Jerusalem road when it was attacked sharply 
by A. P. Hill's troops and checked. The next day, 
Wednesday, A. P. Hill found a fatal gap on Birney's 
flank and doubled up his left forcing Barlow's division 
back on Mott (Birney's) and Gibbon, but a new line 
was formed and held. Thursday, Wright pushed to the 
Weldon road and cut the telegraph, but hardly had he 
placed three regiments in position, when Anderson's 
division of Hill's corps struck them on the flank, crushing 
them back wuth the loss of many prisoners. The 
country w-as very much broken and difficult to move in 
and was besides unknown to the Union commanders, 
while the Confederates were familiar with every inch of the 
ground. The possession of the road was of vital im- 
portance to Lee and his blows were struck heavily and 
with no uncertain hand. Here Lee for the first time 
since the Wilderness abandoned his strict policy of de- 
fensive fighting in works and struck quick and sharp to 
save the last means of feeding his army. The Union 
lines were withdrawn to the Jerusalem road. Mean- 
time while Lee was so busily engaged in protecting 
his right, Grant had directed Butler to throw a force 
across into the low broad stretch of swale known as 
Deep Bottom. This was successfully done by a brigade 
of the tenth corps under General Robert S. Foster, and 
a new road was opened to Richmond by the north bank, 
and only fourteen miles away. 

While the unsuccessful effort was being made to occupy 
and hold the Weldon road. General Wilson with his div- 



THE ARMY BEFORE PETERSBURG. 729 

ision of cavalry, and that of Kautz's from Butler's com- 
mand, moved rapidly South the morninL,T- of June 22d, to 
Reams' Station on the Weldon road, where they destroyed 
the depot and tore up a long- stretch of track. Thence 
moving west without delay, the command struck the 
Southside railway at a point about fifteen miles west 
from Petersburg, and tore up the track for twenty-two 
miles near Nottaway station. 

General W F. Lee, with the enemy's cavalry, was 
encountered, defeated, and brushed away. Kautz was 
sent on to the junction of the Southside with the 
Danville road at Burksville, which he reached and 
destroyed Thursday evening. That night and the 
next day he tore up the track as far as Meherrin 
station, where he rejoined Wilson, and the united com- 
mand then destroyed the Danville road as far south as 
Roanoke Bridge, where they struck the enemy posted 
in force, so that he could not be dislodged. The en- 
raged Confederates were gathering like wolves about 
the gallant cavalrymen, and they were forced to start 
rapidly back. The following Tuesday Wilson met a 
large force at Stony Creek, on the Weldon road, and 
after a hard fight, was forced to make a detour to Reams' 
Station, which he supposed was sdll in Union hands. 
This was a terrible mistake, for the enemy, in their efforts 
to close every avenue of escape, had re-occupied that 
point with a large force of infantry and cavalry. In his 
efforts to escape, Wilson lost all his artillery and trains 
and became separated from Kautz, who made his way 
into the Union lines independendy, and finally came in 
himself by crossing the Nottoway River. He was in a 
pitiable condition and had lost many prisoners, in addition 
to his guns and wagons. He had made one of the most 
macrnificent raids of the war, and though almost de- 



730 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

stroyed himself, had succeeded in breaking the railway 
communication with Richmond for several weeks. Gen- 
eral Grant said: "The damage done to the enemy in 
that expedition more than compensated for the loss sus- 
tained." 

Thus it was, that after three months of hard and almost 
continuous fighting, the Army of the Potomac had reached 
a point where, for a time, no more field operations were 
feasible, and the siege of the great stronghold where 
Lee rested must begin. The losses during the campaign 
had been enormous. Between sixty and seventy thou- 
sand killed, wounded and missing was the number. Grant 
had lost six hundred officers killed, more than two thou- 
sand wounded, and three hundred and fifty missing. 
These were veterans, and could not be replaced readily ; 
brigades were in many cases commanded by majors, and 
regiments by lieutenants. New troops had come to re- 
place the losses, but it was long before they would fill 
the gap made by the death and disablement of many of 
the veterans who crossed the Rapldan. 

Meanwhile all had not gone well In the Valley of 
Virginia. After some sharp fighting, Hunter who had 
succeeded Sigel, effected a junction June Sth at Staunton 
with Crook and Averill. Thence the combined force 
moved to Lexington and then back to Lynchburg, which 
was invested June i6th — too late. Lee's communlcallons 
being all open to the westward had enabled him to throw 
about a corps of troops into Lynchburg, and Hunter was 
forced to retire for safety. He had run out of amnuinl- 
tion, but instead of retiring along the X'alley line, so as to 
interpose between Lee's army and the North, he fell back 
to the Kanawha River, and his troops were lost to use for 
a number ot weeks. 



CHAPTER LIV. 



IN THE DEADLY CRATER. 



" Lee cannot feed Reinforcements " — Grant has no Fear of Johnston Aiding 
Virginia — The Siege Train at Petersburg — Within Short Cannon Range — (Jrant 
Reinforcing — The Trans- Mississippi Campaign Discontinued — Preparing the 
Mine — Its Frightful Destructiveness — Fatal Delay of tiie Assailants— Slaughter in 
the Crater — The Troops Withdrawn — Trying to Fix the Responsibility— No One 
to Blame — The Confederate Description. 

Grant at this time, while matters looked so dark to the 
eyes of the loyal North telegraphed to Halleck to inform 
Sherman, who was pushing through Georgia toward 
Adanta, that he might go ahead on the original plan and 
to pay no attendon to an effort to keep Joe Johnston from 
loosening reinforcements to help Lee. He said tersely 
that " Lee can not stand reinforcements, as he has all he 
can do to supply the force he has here now." Lee was then 
dispatching to the Confederate Secretary of War that 
" the Weldon road is constantly in danger of interruption 
and trains can not be run safely." The only lines of 
supply were to the westward, over the Southside and 
Danville roads, which Wilson had already struck so 
severely. In the mean dme Grant was organizing. "The 
Weldon road we can keep destroyed," he said to Halleck, 
June 28th. Lee's predicdon was right. He was then 
in the grasp of the man who knew the art of war, — a grasp 
which was never to be loosened until the end came at 
Appomattox Court-House. The siege-train had arrived 
at Petersburg and been placed in the rapidly-constructed 
fordficadons along Lee's front. And while the Union 
troops were recovering from the physical exhaustion of 
the strain of the past two months, Grant reported " All 

731 



732 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

is quiet here now, except from our guns, which are firing 
into the Bridc^e at Petersburtr from a distance of two 
thousand yards." 

The position was such, liowever, that Lee could hold 
his own with the thinnest of lines and the siege of Rich- 
mond — Petersburg being practically a mere outpost — 
bade fair to be tedious. Grant informed the authorities 
at Washington that a larger than an ordinary force was 
needed to successfully envelop Petersburg. He felt safe 
against Lee, and acting defensively against Lee and John- 
ston's forces combined, but he felt that the situation called 
for the concentration of all enerories aofainst the two 
principal armies of the enemy. Said he, "Johnston should 
be pushed in Georgia, while west of the Mississippi 
[then Kirby Smith commanded the trans-Mississippi 
Department] I would not attempt anything until the re- 
bellion east of it is entirely subdued." General Canby 
was, therefore, directed to let Kirby Smith alone, and the 
Ninteenth Corps, under General Emory, was ordered to 
join Grant while the Sixteenth Corps under General A. J. 
Smith was sent into West Tennessee to repair the damage 
done by Sturgis' defeat by Forrest, and check attempts 
on Sherman's line of communication. 

Immediately after settling down in Lee's front and 
erecting works, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants, of 
the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, who was a mining en- 
gineer by profession, proposed a plan for mining under 
the main work on Burnsidc's front, to blow up that 
strong point, under cover of which the interior line 
might be carried by a combined assault. Practical 
miners in Pleasants' regiment began the work under his 
supervision. Other officers in high command, not in- 
cluding Grant, however, had little faith in the scheme, 
jind it was found so difficult to secure co-operation that 



IN THE DEADLY CRATER. 733 

there was great difficulty in procurinq^ ordinary working 
tools. The work was begun June 25th, and completed 
July 23d. Ten days later four tons of the best powder 
known were placed in position in eight magazines or 
chambers, and the explosion fixed for 3.20 in the morn- 
ing of July 30th. It was not until an hour later, however, 
that the terrible rumbling was heard. The assault was 
to be made by the Ninth Corps, and Burnside wished to 
send in Ferrero with his black division first. Meade ob- 
jected to this, and was sustained by Grant. The division 
commanders finally drew lots for the lead ^^i the assault. 
General Ledlle won the lead, and was to be fianked by 
Wilcox and Potter, on the right and left respectively, 
while Ferrero was to follow Ledlie. Ord, who had suc- 
ceeded Smith in command of the Eighteenth Corps, was 
to move forward on the right, and Warren, with the 
Fifth Corps, on the left. Every gun bearing on the im- 
mediate front was to open at the instant of the explosion, 
to keep the ground clear. 

The Confederate garrison, under Colonel Fleming, com- 
prised the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Twenty-second 
South Carolina Regiments, and had sixteen guns in position. 

An eye-witness says that "When the explosion oc- 
curred, the whole works seemed to be upheaved in a 
mass like a vertical cone. Dead and dying men, parts 
of gun-carriages and guns, great masses of earth, pieces 
of timber and debris were hurled in the air, and could be 
seen by the lightning gleams of the burning powder." 
Then began the terrible noise of one hundred and ten 
guns, abetted by fifty mortars, and for a moment the 
whole Confederate line seemed paralyzed by the unex- 
pected shock. The frightened troops of the enemy gave 
way almost voluntarily to the right and left, and their 
artillery was for the moment deserted and silent. 



734 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Grant was on the ground with Meade watching for 
the expected instantaneous attack that did not take 
place. It was ten minutes after the shock before LedHe's 
division moved, led by the gallant Bardctt. It swept 
into the \)\<^ crater formed by the explosion, but went no 
farther, halting there a whole hour. Meade heard of 
this fatal tardiness and ordered Burnside to push for- 
ward all his other troops and to call on Ord to support 
his flank. Potter and Wilcox had gained their positions, 
but could do but little while Ledlie blocked the way for 
Ferrero, who, however, pushed his brave blacks into the 
crater, where they only furnished targets for the merciless 
guns of the enemy. The scene in that crater never has, 
never will be, nor can ever be faithfully described. The 
Confederates had by this time roused from their stupor 
and from the Cemetery Ridge in the rear and from the 
right and left began pouring in a storm of shells that 
pitilessly swept the whole front and made it certain 
death to remain there, and to retrace their way back was 
almost as bad. Mahone's Confederate troops rushed to 
the defense of their works with irresistible fury, com- 
pelling Burnside, at 9 o'clock a. m., to retire. The well- 
planned attack, from which so much was expected, had 
miserably failed through somebody's blunder, and four 
thousand and three officers and men had been uselessly 
sacrificed. A court of inquiry, of which Hancock was 
president, placed the principal blame of the needless 
disaster on the haUing of the lirst column in the crater. 

The siege of Petersburg progressed steadily, and Lee 
was given no rest nor opportunity to detach reinforce- 
ments to aid any of his own lieutenants. The disaster 
at the mine explosion, however, made Grant feel that 
thenceforward he must thrust aside the feelings of deli- 
cacy that had before made him refrain from interfering 



IN THE DEADLY CRATER. 735 

with Meade's direct command of the Army of the 
Potomac. The court of inquiry found that no directin*/ 
head was present at the time of the mine explosion, and 
that neither of the division commanders were with the 
troops — Burnside was near, but failed in the emerg'ency, 
and Meade was too far away to be of any value. Burn- 
side did not tell Meade of all the details of the disaster, and 
was as severely censured as was Ledlie for his neglect 
to be with his command while it was in action. Burnside 
smoothed his hurt feelings by going away on leave, and 
Parke succeeded him in command of the Ninth Corps, 

A magnificent description of the explosion from the 
Confederate stand-point is that of W, Gordon McCabc. 
He says: 

"Burnside held an advanced position, carried in the 
assaults of the 17th and i8th of June, by his own troops 
and Griffin's division of Warren's corps, and had suc- 
ceeded in constructing a heavy line of rifle-pits, scarcely 
more than one hundred yards distant from what was then 
known as the Elliot Salient. Immediately in rear of this 
advanced line the ground dipped suddenly and broaden- 
ing out into a meadow of considerable extent, afforded 
an admirable position for massing a large body of troops, 
while working parties would be effectually screened from 
the observation of the Confederates holding the crest 
beyond. 

" Now it happened that the second division of the 9th 
corps guarded this position of the Federal front, and 
as early as the 24th of June, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry 
Pleasants, commanding the first brigade of that division, 
a man of resolute energy and an accomplished mining 
engineer, proposed to his division commander that he be 
allowed to rim a gallery from this hollow and blow up 
the hostile salient. 



736 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" Submitted to Burnside, the venture was approved, 
and at twelve o'clock the next day Pleasants began 
work, selecting for the service his own regiment, the 
Forty-Eighth Pennsylvania, most of w4iom were miners 
from the Schuylkill region. But though Burnside ap- 
proved, the Commanding-General of the Army of the 
Potomac and the military engineers regarded the scheme 
from the first with ill-concealed derision. Meade and 
his Chief of Engineers, Duane, declared that it was all 
clap-trap and nonsense; that the Confederates were 
certain to discover the enterprise ; that working parties 
would be smothered for lack of air or crushed by the 
falling earth ; finally, as an unanswerable argument, that 
a mine of such length had never been excavated in mili- 
tary operations. 

•"I found it impossible to get assistance from any- 
body,' says Pleasants, with indignation almost pathetic ; 
' I had to do all the work myself.' Day after day, night 
after nieht, toilinor laboriously, he came out of the bowels 
of the earth only to find himself in the cold shade of 
official indifference ; yet the undaunted spirit of the man 
refused to yield his undertaking. Mining picks were 
denied him, but he straightened out his army picks and 
delved on ; he could get no lumber for supports to his 
gallery, but he tore down an old bridge in rear of the 
lines and utilized that ; barrows were wanting, in which to 
remove the earth taken from the mine, but he bound old 
cracker boxes with hoops of iron, wrenched from the pork 
barrels, and used them instead ; above all, he needed an 
accurate instrument to make the necessary triangula- 
tions, and although there was a new one at army head- 
quarters, he was forced to send to Washington for an 
old-fashioned theodolite, and make that answer his pur- 
pose. 



IN THE DEADL V CRA TER. 737 

" Despite all this and more, he persevered, working 
on until the busy hammering of the Confederates over- 
head, engaged in laying platforms for their guns, assured 
him that he was well under the doomed salient. 

" By |uly 23d, the mine was finished. It consisted of 
a main gallery, five hundred and ten and eight-tenths feet 
in leno-th, with lateral o-alleries right and left, measuring 
respectively thirty-eight and thirty-seven feet, and form- 
ing the segment of a circle, concave to the Confederate 
lines. From mysterious paragraphs in the Northern 
papers and from reports of deserters, though these last 
were vague and contradictory, Lee and Beauregard 
suspected that the enemy was mining in front of some 
one of the three salients on Beauregard's front, and the 
latter officer had, in consequence, directed counter-mines 
to be sunk from all three, meanwhile constructing gorge 
lines in rear, upon which the troops might retire in case 
of surprise or disaster. Batteries of eight and ten inch 
Coehorn mortars were also established to assure a cross 
and front fire on the threatened points. But the counter- 
mining on the part of the Confederates was after a time 
discontinued, owing to the lack of proper tools, the inex- 
perience of the troops in such work, and the arduous 
nature of their service in the trenches. 

" The mine finished, official brows began to rcla.x, and 
Pleasants asking for 12,000 pounds of powder, got 
8000 and was thankful, together with Sooo sand-bags, to 
be used in tamping. On the 27th of July, the charge, 
consisting of three hundred and twenty kegs of powder, 
each containing twenty-five pounds, were placed in the 
mine, and before sunset of the 28th the tamping was 
finished and the mine ready to be sprung. 

" General Grant, meanwhile, in his eagerness lor the 
coveted prize so long denied him, resolved to tempt tor- 

2W 



738 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

tune by a double throw, and not to stake his all upon the 
venture of a single cast. To this end, he dispatched, on 
the evening of the 26th, Hancock's corps and two 
divisions of horse under Sheridan to the North side of 
the James, with instructions to the former to move up 
rapidly next day to Chaffin's and prevent reinforcements 
crossing from the South, while Sheridan, making a wide 
sweep to the right, was to attempt from the North a 
surprise of the thinly garrisoned fortifications of Richmond. 
Meade was to spring the mine and assault from Burn- 
side's front on the same day. General Grant stating in 
the telegraphic order, with his habitual reliance on sheer 
weio-ht of numbers, 

" ' Your two remaining corps, with the iSth. make you 
relatively stronger against the enemy at Petersburg than 
we have been since the first day.' 

" But the cautious Meade replied that he could not ad- 
vise an assault in the absence of the Second Corps, 
while the rough treatment experienced by Sheridan indi- 
cated that the Confederate capital was secure against 
surprise. 

" But althoucrh the movement North of the James was 
not, as commonly represented, a skillful feint which de- 
ceived Lee, but a real attempt to surprise Richmond, 
which he thwarted by concentrating heavily on his left, 
yet to parry the stroke the Confederate commander had 
been compelled so to denude the Petersburg front that 
there was left for its defense but four brigades of Bush- 
rod Johnson's Division and the divisions of Hoke and 
Mahonc, which together with the artillery made up a 
force of litdc over thirteen thousand effective men. 

"The conjuncture was still bright with success to 
the Federals, and it being now decided to spring the 
niine before daylight of the 30th, Hancock's movement 



TN THE DEADLY CRATER. 739 

was treated as a feint, and that officer was directed on 
tlie night of the 29th to return with all secrecy and dis- 
patch to take part in the assault, while Sheridan was to 
pass in rear of the army, and with the whole cavalry 
corps operate towards Petersburg from the South and 
West. 

" On the evening of the 29th Meade issued his orders 
of battle. 

"As soon as it was dusk, Burnside was to mass his 
troops in front of the point to be attacked, and form 
them in columns of assault, taking care to remove the 
abatis, so that the troops could debouch rapidly, and to 
have his pioneers equipped for opening passages for the 
artillery. He was to spring the mine at 3.30 a.m.. and 
moving rapidly through the breach, seize the crest of 
Cemetery Hill, a ridge four hundred yards in rear of the 
Confederate lines. 

" Ord was to mass the Eighteenth Corps in rear of 
the Ninth, immediately follow Burnside and support him 
on the right. 

" Warren was to reduce the number of men holding 
his front to the minimum, concentrate heavily on the 
right of his corps, and support Burnside on the left. 
Hancock was to mass the Second Corps in rear of the 
trenches, at that time held by Ord, and be prepared to 
support the assault as events might dictate. 

** Engineer officers were detailed to accompany each 
Corps, and the Chief Engineer was directed to park his 
pontoon train at a convenient point, ready to move at a 
moment's warning, for Meade, having,assured himself that 
the Confederates had no second line on Cemeter)- Hill, 
as he had formerly supposed and as Duane had positively 
reported, was now sanguine of success, and made these 
preparations to meet the contingency of the meagre 



740 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Confederate force retiring beyond the Appomattox and 
burning the bridges ; in which event, he proposed to 
push immediately across that river and Swift creek and 
open up communication with Butler at Bermuda Hun- 
dred before Lee could send an)- reintorcements from his 
five divisions North of the James. 

" To cover the assault, the Chief of Artillery was to 
concentrate a heavy fire on the Confederate batteries, 
commanding the salient and its approaches, and to this 
end eighty-one heavy guns and mortars and over eighty 
light guns were placed in battery on that immediate 
front. Burnside had urofed that Ferrero's neorro division 
should lead the attack, declaring that it was superior in 
morale to the white divisions of his corps, but in this he 
was over-ruled by Meade and Grant. He therefore 
permitted the commanders of the white divisions to 
'draw straws ' as to who should claim the perilous honor, 
and, fortune favoring the Confederates, the exacting 
duty fell to General Ledlie, an officer unfitted by nature 
to conduct any enterprise requiring skill or courage. 

"This settled, Burnside, in his turn, issued his orders 
of assault. 

" Ledlie was to push through the breach straight lo 
Cemetery Hill. Wilcox was to follow, and, after pass- 
ing the breach, deploy on the left of the leading division 
and seize the line of the Jerusalem plank road. 

" Potter was to pass to the right of Ledlie and protect 
his Hank, while Ferrero's necrro division, should Ledlie 
effect a lodgment on Cemetery Hill, was to push beyond 
that point and immediately assault the town. 

" Long before dawn of the 30th, the troops were in 
position, and at half-past three, punctuall)' to the minute, 
the mine was fired. 

"Then the news passed swiftly down the lines, and the 



IN THE DEADLY CRATER. 741 

dark columns standing in severed masses, awaited in 
dread suspense the signal — knowing that death awaited 
many on yonder crest, yet not animated by the stern jf)y 
of coming fight, nor yet resolved that though death 
stalked forth with horrid mien from die dreadful breach, 
it should be but to great victory. 

" Minute followed minute of anxious waiting — a trial 
to even the most determined veterans — and now the east 
was streaked with gray; yet the tender beauty of the 
dim tranquillity remained unvexed of any sound of war. 
save one might hear a low hum amid the darkling 
swarm as grew the wonder at delay. Nor was the cause 
of hindrance easy to ascertain ; for should it prove that 
the fuse was still alioht, burninof but slowly, to enter the 
mine was certain death. Thus time dragged slowly on, 
telegram upon telegram of inquiry meanwhile pouring 
in from Meade, who, unmindful of the dictum of Napo- 
leon, ' that in assaults a general should be with his 
troops,' had fixed his headquarters full a mile away. 
But these were all unheeded, for Burnside knew not 
what to answer. 

" Then it was that two brave men. whose names should 
be mentioned w^ith respect wherever courage is hon- 
ored, — Lieutenant Jacob Douty, and Sergeant Henry 
Rees,both of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, — volunteeretl 
for the perilous service and entered the mine. By crawl- 
ing on their hands and knees, groping in utter darkness, 
they found that the fuse had gone out about fifty feet from 
the mouth of the main gallery, relighted it and retirc^d. 

" ' In eleven minutes now the mine will explode,' 
Pleasants reports to Burnside at thirty-three minutes 
past four, and a small group of officers of the Forty- 
eighth, standing upon the slope of the main parapets, 
anxiously awaiting the result. 



742 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" ' It lacks a minute yet,' says Pleasants, looking at his 
watch. 

" ' Not a second,' cried Douty, ' for there she goes.* 

" A slight tremor of the earth for a second, then the 
rocking as of an earthquake, and with a tremendous 
burst, which rent the sleeping hills beyond, a vast column 
of earth and smoke shoots upward to a great height, its 
dark sides Hashing out sparks of fire, hangs poised for 
a moment in mid-air, and then hurding downward with a 
roaringf sound, showers of stones, broken timbers and 
blackened human limbs, subsides — the gloomy pall of 
darkening smoke flushing to an angry crimson as it 
floats away to meet the morning sun. 

" Pleasants has done his work with terrible complete- 
ness, for now the site of the Elliot Salient is marked by 
a horrid chasm, one hundred and thirty-five feet in 
length, ninety-seven feet in breadth and thirty feet deep ; 
and its brave garrison, all asleep, save the guards, 
when thus surprised by sudden death, lie buried beneath 
the jagged blocks of blackened clay — in all, two hundred 
and fifty-six officers and men of the Eighteenth and 
Twenty-second South Carolina, two officers and twenty 
men of Pegram's Petersburg Battery. 

" The dread upheaval has rent in twain Elliot's brigade, 
and the men to the right and left of the huge abyss 
recoil in terror and dismay. Nor shall we censure 
them, for so terrible was the explosion that even the 
assaulting column shrank back aghast, and nearly ten 
minutes elapsed ere it could be reformed. 

" Now a storm of fire bursts in red fury from the 
Federal front, and in an instant all the valley between 
the hostile lines lies shrouded in billowing smoke. Then 
Marshall, putting himself at the head of the stormers, 
sword in hand, bids his men to follow. 



IN THE DEADLY CRATER. 743 

" But there comes no response betittin^^ the stern gran- 
deur of the scene — no trampHng charge, no rolling 
drums of Austerlitz, no fierce shouts of warlike joy as 
burst from the men of the ' Light Division ' when they 
mounted the breach of Badajos, or from TVazier's 
' Royals ' as they crowned the crimson slopes of St. 
Sebastian. 

" No, none of this is here. But a straggling line of 
the men of the Second Brigade, First Division, uttering 
a mechanical cheer, slowly mounts the crest, passes un- 
molested across the intervening space, and true to the 
instinct fostered by long service in the trenches, 
plunges into the crater, courting the friendly shelter of 
its crumblino- sides. 

"Yonder lies Cemetery Hill in plain view, naked ot 
men, and, hard beyond, the brave old town, nestling 
whitely in its wealth of green. 

" Silence still reigned along the Confederate lines ; yet 
Ledlie's men did not advance, and now the supporting 
brigade of the same division runninc;- forward over the 
crest, and with an incredible folly crowding in upon 
their comrades, already huddled together in the shelving 
pit, all regimental and company organization was lost, 
and the men speedily passed from the control of their 
officers. 

" If we except EUiot, who, with the remnant of his bri- 
gade, was occupying the ravine to the left and rear ol 
the crater, no officer of rank was present on the Con- 
f<iderate side to assume immediate direction of affairs, 
and a considerable time elapsed before Beauregard and 
Lee — both beyond the Appomatox — were informed by 
Colonel Paul, of Beauregard's staff, of the nature and 
locality of the disaster. 

' But almost on the moment, John Haskell, of South 



744 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Carolina, a glorious young battalion commander, whose 
name will be forever associated with the artillery corps 
of the Army of Northern Virginia, galloped to the 
front, followed by two light batteries, and having dis- 
posed these pieces along the Plank road, and opened 
Planner's light guns from the Gee House, passed to his 
left to speak a word of cheery commendation to Lamp- 
kin, of his battalion, who was already annoying the 
swarming masses ot the enemy with his Virginia battery 
of eiPfht-inch mortars. Passing- throup-h the covered 
way, Haskell sought Elliot, and pointing out to him the 
defenseless position of the guns on the Plank road, 
urged him to make such dispositions as would afford 
them protection. Essaying this, Elliot sprang forward, 
followed by a mere handful of brave fellows, but almost 
on the instant fell stricken by a grievous hurt and was 
borne from his last field of battle. 

" The fire of the enemy's artillery was now very severe, 
owing to their superior weight of metal, and the guns on 
the Plank road, exposed in addition to the fire of sharp- 
shooters, were suffering such loss that it was determined 
to retire all but six pieces, and, as the situation seemed 
rather hopeless, to call for volunteers to man these. To 
Haskell's proud delight, every gun detachment volun- 
teered to remain. 

" Nor did the artillery to the right and left fail to bear 
themselves with the resolution of men conscious that for 
the time, the hope of the army was centered in their 
steadiness, and that their guns alone barred the road to 
Petersburg ; for, let me repeat, Cemetery Hill was naked 
of men. The officers of one battery, Indeed, misbehaved, 
but these were promptly spurned aside, and the ver)- spot 
of their defection made glorious by the heroic conduct 
of Hampton Gibbs, of the artillery, and Sam Preston, 



IN THE DEADLY CRATER. 74."i 

of Wise's brigade, both of whom fell desperately woun- 
ded. While spurring hard from the hospital, with the 
fever still upon him, came Hampden Chamberlayne, a 
young' artillery officer of Hill's corps who so handled 
these abandoned guns that from that day the battery bore 
his name, and he wore another bar upon his collar. 

"Frank Huger, who, like ' Edward Dreer, of the I'^orty- 
third,' had 'seen more combats than he could count 
years,' was, as always, to the fore, working as a simple 
cannonier at his heated napoleons, cheering and encour- 
aging his men by joyful voice and valiant example. 

"Wright, of Halifax, opened too a withering fire from 
his light guns, posted on a hill to the left, nor could he be 
silenced by the enemy's batteries, for his front was cov- 
ered by a heavy fringe of pines ; and now the eight inch 
mortars in rear of Wright, and Langhorne's ten-inch 
mortars, from the Baxter road, took part in the dreadful 
chorus. 

" On the Federal side, Griffin, of Potter's division, not 
waiting for Wilcox, pushed forward his brigade and 
gained ground to the north of the crater, and Bliss's bri- 
gade of the same division, coming to his support, still fur- 
ther srround was ofained in that direction. But his lead- 
ing regiments, deflected by the hostile fire, bore to their 
left and mingling with Ledlie's men swarming along the 
sides of the great pit. added to the confusion. Wilcox 
now threw forward a portion of his division and succeeded 
in occupying about one hundred and fifty yards of the 
works south of the crater, but estopped by the fire of 
Charnberlayne's guns, and, whenever occasion offered, by 
the fire of the infantry, his men on die exposed flank 
gave ground, and pushing the right regiments into the 
crater, the confusion grew worse confounded. Some of 
the men indeed, from fear of suffocation, had already 



746 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

emerged from the pit and spread themselves to the right 
and left, but this was a matter of danger and difficulty, 
for the ground was scored with covered- ways and tra- 
verses, honey-combed with bomb-proofs and swept by the 
artillery. Others of them pressed forward and got into 
the ditch of the unfinished gorge lines, while not a few, 
creeping along the glacis of the exterior line, made their 
way over the parapet into the main trench. In all this, 
there was much hand to hand fighting, for many men be- 
longintT to the dismembered brio^ade still found shelter 
behind traverses and bomb-proofs, and did not easily 
yield. 

" Meanwhile, General Meade, ' groping in the dark,' 
to use his own phrase, sent telegram upon telegram to 
Burnside to know how fared the day, but received answer 
to none. At fifteen minutes to six, however, one hour 
after Ledlie's men had occupied the breach, an orderly 
delivered to him a note in pencil, written from the crater 
by Colonel Loring, Inspector-General of the Ninth Corps, 
and addressed to General Burnside. This was Meade's 
first information from the front and was little cheering, 
for Loring stated brieily that Ledlie's men were in con- 
fusion and would not go forward. 

"Ord was now directed to push forward the Eighteenth 
Corps, and the following dispatch was sent to Burnside : 

" ' Headquarters Army of the Potomac, July 30, 1864, 6 a. m. 
" ' Major General Burnside : 

" ' Prisoners taken say that there is no line in their rear, and that their 
men were falling back when ours advanced, that none of their troops 
have returned from the James. Our chance is now. Push your men 
forward at all hazards, white and black, and don't lose time in ma- 
king formations, but rush for the crest. 

" ' Georoe G. Meade, 

" ' Major- General Commanding.' 

" But Ord could not advance, for the narrow debouches 



IN THE DEADL V CRA TER. 747 

were still choked up by the men of the Ninth Corps, and 
by the wounded borne from the front, and althou^di Burn- 
side promptly transmitted the order to his subordinates, 
the troops in the rear moved witli reluctant steps, while 
no general of division was present with those in front to 
urgre them forward. 

" Again did Meade telegraph to Burnside. ' Every mo- 
ment is most precious, the enemy are undoubtedly con- 
centrating to meet you on the crest.' But not until 
twenty minutes past seven did he receive a reply, and 
then briefly to the effect that Burnside 'hoped to carr}' 
the crest, but it was hard work.' 

" Then Meade's patience seems fairly to have broken 
down. 'What do you mean by hard work to take the 
crest ? ' he asks : 

" * I understand not a man has advanced beyond the enemy's line 
which you occupied immediately after exploding the mine. Do you 
mean to say your officers and men will not obey your orders to ad- 
vance ? If not, what is the obstacle? I wish to know the truth, and 

desire an immediate answer. 

"'Geori^e G. Meade, 

' ' ' Major- General ' ' 

"To whith Burnside in hot wrath, straightway replied, — 

" ' Head Quarters Ninth Corps, 7-35 a m. 
" ' General Meade : 

" ' Your dispatch by Captain Jay, received. The main body of Gen- 
eral Potter's division is beyond the Crater. I do not mean to say 
that my officers and men will not obey my orders to advance. I mean 
to say that it is very hard to advance to the Crest. I have never in 
any report said anything different from what I conceive to be the 
truth. Were it not insubordinate, I would say that the latter remark 
of your note was unofficerlike and ungentlemanly. 

'' ' A. E. Burnside, 
" ' Afa/or- Genera/.' 

" Griffin, it is true, in obedience to orders to advance 
straight for Cemetery Hill, had during this time attempt- 
ed several charges from his position north of the crater. 



748 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

but his men displayed litde spirit, and, breaking speedily 
under the fire of the artillery sought their old shelter be- 
hind the traverses and covered ways. The rest of Pot- 
ter's division moved out but slowly, audit was fully eight 
o'clock — more than three hours after the explosion — 
when Ferrero's negro division, the men beyond question, 
inflamed with drink, burst from the advanced lines, cheer- 
ing vehemendy, passed at a double quick over the crest 
under a heavy fire, and rushing with scarce a check over 
the heads of the white troops in the crater, spread to their 
right, capturing more than two hundred prisoners and 
one stand of colors. At the same moment, Turner, of 
the Tenth Corps, pushed forward a brigade over the 
Ninth Corps parapets, seized the Confederate line sdll 
further to the north, and quickly disposed of the remain- 
ing brigades of his division to confirm his success. 

" Now was the crisis of the day, and fortunate was it 
for maiden and matron of Petersburgh, that even at this 
moment there was filino- into the ravine between Ceme- 
tery Hill and the drunken battalions of Ferrero. a stern 
array of silent men, clad in faded gray, resolved with 
grim resolve to avert from the mother town a fate as 
dreadful as that which marked the three days' sack of 
Badajos. 

" Lee, informed of the disaster at 6.10 a. m., had bidden 
his aid. Colonel Charles Venable, to ride quickly to the 
right of the army and bring up two brigades of Ander- 
son's old division, commanded by Mahone, for time was 
too precious to observe military etiquette and send the 
orders through Hill. Shortly after, the General-in-Chief 
reached the front in person, and all men took heart when 
they descried the grave and gracious face, and ' Travel- 
er ' stepping proudly as if conscious that he bore upon 
his back the* weijj^ht of a nation. Beauregard was al- 



IN THE DEADL Y CRA TER. 749 

ready at the Gee house, a commandinu- position five 
hundred yards in rear of the crater, and Hill had gal- 
loped to the right to organize an attacking column, and 
had ordered down Pegram, and even now the litrht bat- 
teries ot Brander and Ellett were rattling through the 
town at a sharp trot, with cannoni(,'rs mounted, the sweet, 
serene face of their boy-colonel lit up with that glow 
which to his men meant hotly-impending fisrht. 

" Venable had sped upon his mission, and found Ma- 
hone's men already standing to their arms ; but the 
Federals, from their lofty 'lookouts,' were busily inter- 
changing signals, and to uncover such a length of 
front without exciting observation, demanded the nicest 
precaution. Yet was this difficulty overcome by a sim- 
ple device, for the men being ordered to drop back one 
by one, as if going for water, obeyed with such intelli- 
gence that Warren continued to report to Meade that 
not a man had left his front. 

"Then forming in the ravine in rear, the men of the 
Virginia and Georgia brigades came pressing down the 
valley with swift, swinging stride, — not with the dis- 
contented bearing of soldiers whose discipline alone 
carries them to what they feel to be a scene of fruit- 
less sacrifice, but with the glad alacrity and aggressive 
ardor of men impatient for battle, and who, from long 
knowledge of war, are conscious that fortune has 
placed within their grasp an opportunity, which by the 
magic touch of veteran steel, may be transformed to 
'swift-winged victory.' 

"Halting for a moment in rear of the ' Ragland 
house,' Mahone bade his men strip off blankets and 
knapsacks and prepare for battle, 

"Then riding quickly to the front, while the troops 
marched in single file along the covered way, he drew 



750 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

rein at Bushrod Johnson's headquarters, and reported in 
person to Beauregard. Informed that Johnson would 
assist in the attack with the outlying troops about the 
crater, he rode sdll further to the front, dismounted, and 
pushing along the covered way from the Plank Road, 
came out into the ravine, in which he afterwards formed 
his men. Mounting the embankment at the head of the 
covered way, he descried within one hundred and sixty 
yards a forest of glittering bayonets and beyond, floating 
proudly from the captured works, eleven Union flags. 
Estimating rapidly from the hostile colors the probable 
force in his front, he at once dispatched his courier to 
bring up the Alabama Brigade from the right, assuming 
thereby a grave responsibility, yet was the wisdom of 
the decision vindicated by the event. 

" Scarcely had the order been given, when the head of 
the Virpfinia Brigade befjan to debouch from the covered- 

o o o 

way. Directing Colonel Weisiger, its commanding of- 
ficer, to file to the right and form line of battle, Mahone 
stood at the angle, speaking quietly and cheerily to the 
men. Silently and quickly they moved out, and formed 
with that precision dear to every soldier's eye ; the sharp- 
shooters leading, followed by the Sixth, Sixteenth, Sixty- 
first, Forty-first and Twelfth Virginia ; the men of Second 
Manassas and Crampton's Gap ! 

" But one caution was g-iven, to reserve their fire until 
they reached the brink of the ditch ; but one ^exhortation, 
that they were counted on to do this work, and do it 
quickly. 

" Now the leadincr resfiment of the Georsjia Bricrade be- 
gan to move out, when suddenly a brave Federal officer, 
seizing the colors, called on his men to charge. Descry- 
ing this hostile movement on the instant, Weisiger, a 
veteran of stern countenance, which did not belie the 



IN THE DEADLY CRA J J:R. 751 

personal intrepidity of the man. uttered to the Virginians 
the single word — Forward. 

" Then the sharpshooters and the men of the Sixtli on 
the right, running swifdy forward, for theirs was the 
greater distance to traverse, the whole line sprang along 
the crest, and there burst from more than eight hundred 
warlike voices that fierce yell which no man ever yet 
heard unmoved on the held of battle. Storms of case- 
shot from the right mingled with the tempest of bullets 
which smote upon them from the front, yet was there no 
answering volley, for these were veterans, whose fiery 
enthusiasm had been wrought to a finer temper by the 
stern code of discipline, and even in the tumult the men 
did not forget their orders. Still pressing forward with 
steady fury, while the enemy, appalled by the inexorable 
advance, gave ground, they reached the ditch of the 
inner works. 

" Then one volley crashed from the whole line, and 
the Sixth and Sixteenth, with the sharpshooters, clutch- 
ing their empty guns and redoubling their fierce cries, 
leaped over the retrenched cavalier, and all down the 
line the dreadful work of the bayonet began. 

" How long it lasted none may say with certainty, for 
in those fierce moments no man heeded time, no man 
asked, no man gave quarter ; but in an incredibly brief 
space, as seemed to those who looked on. the whole of 
the advanced line north of the crater was retaken, the 
enemy in headlong flight, while the tattered battle tlags 
planted along the parapets from left to right, told Lee 
at the Gee house, that from this netde danger, valor had 
plucked the flower, safety for an army. 

" Redoubling the sharpshooters on his right. Mahone 
kept down all fire from the crater, the vast rim of which 
frowned down upon the lower line occupied by his troops. 



752 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" And now the scene within the horrid pit was such as 
might be fitly portrayed only by the pencil of Dante, 
after he had trod ' nine circled hell.' From the great 
mortars to the right and left, huge missiles, describing 
graceful curves, fell at regular intervals with dreadful 
accuracy and burst upon the helpless masses huddled 
together, and every explosion was followed by piteous 
cries, and oftentimes the very air seemed darkened by 
flying human limbs. 

" Mahone's men watched with great interest this easy 
method of reaching troops behind cover, and then, with 
the imitative ingenuity of soldiers, gleefully gathered up 
the countless muskets with bayonets fixed, which had 
been abandoned by the enemy, and propelled them with 
such nice skill that they came down upon Ledlie's men 
' like the rain of the Norman arrows at Hastings.' 

"At half-past ten, the Georgia brigade advanced and 
attempted to dislodge Wilcox's men, who still held a 
portion of the lines south of the crater, but so closely 
was every inch of the ground searched by artillery, so 
biting was the fire of musketry, that, obliquing to their 
left, they sought cover behind the cavalier trench won by 
the Virginia brigade, many officers and men testifying by 
their blood how gallantly the venture had been essayed. 

" Half an hour later the Alabamians, under Saunders, 
arrived, but further attack was postponed until after i 
p. M., in order to arrange for co-operation from Colquitt 
on the right. Sharply to the minute agreed upon, the 
assaulting line moved forward, and with such astonishing 
rapidity did these glorious soldiers rush across the inter- 
vening space that ere their first wikl cries subsided their 
battle-flags had crowned the works. The Confederate 
batteries were now ordered to cease firing, and forty 
volunteers were called for to assault the crater, but so 



IN THE DEADLY CRATER. 7.53 

many of che Alabamians offered themselves for the ser- 
vice that the ordinary system of detail was necessary. 
Happily before the assaulting; party could be formed a 
white handkerchief, made fast to a ramrod, was projected 
above the edge of the crater, and, after a brief pause, a 
modey mass of prisoners poured over the side and ran 
for their lives to the rear. 

" In this grand assault on Lee's lines, for which Meade 
had massed 65,000 troops, the enemy suffered a loss of 
above 5,000 men, including 1,101 prisoners, among whom 
were two brigade commanders, while vast quantities of 
small arms and 21 standards fell into the hands of the 
victors. Yet many brave men perished on the Confede- 
rate side. Elliot's brigade lost severely in killed and 
prisoners. The Virginia brigade, too, paid the price 
which glory ever exacts. The Sixth carried in 98 men 
and lost 88, one company — 'the dandies,' of course— - 
' Old Company F,' of Norfolk, losing every man killed 
or wounded. 

" On the Federal side, crimination and recrimination 
followed what General Grant styled ' this miserable 
failure.' There was a Court of Inquiry and a vast array 
of dismal testimony, which disclosed the fact that of four 
generals of divisions belonging to the assaulting corps, 
not one had followed his men into the Confederate lines. 
Nay, that the very commander of the storming division, 
finding, like honest Nym, 'the humor of the breach 
too hot,' was at the crisis of the fight, palpitating in a 
bomb-proof, beguiling a Michigan surgeon into giving 
him a drink of rum, on the plea that * he had the malaria 
and had been struck by a spent ball.' Legends of a 
broad antiquity, whereof, let us humbly confess, we our- 
selves have heard." 

2X 



CHAPTER Ly. 

THE CONFEDERATE TROOPER?. ^ 

'The peculiarity of the Confederate cavalry— Fitzhugh Lee's recollections — The fight 
at Todd's Tavern — The move towards Richmond— Yellow T.,vern — General 
Stuart mortally wounded— Major J. R. McNuIty's recollections o^ the affair — The 
fight at Five Forks— What Fitzhugh Lee advised his men — The surrender at 
Farmville. 

The peculiarity of the Confederate cavalry was that it 
was efficient from the beginning of the war. There were 
many reasons for this. In the first place every trooper 
was required to furnish his own horse. This, of itself, 
involved a certain property-standing at home. Ihen the 
breeding of fine horses entirely for speed and endurance 
had been a business in the South long before it attained 
any importance in the North, and the general grades of 
the Confederate horses were, in consequence, much higher 
than those used in the Union service. Nearly every 
Southerner, too, was a natural horseman, and had lived a 
large portion of his life in the saddle. Besides, he had a 
thorough knowledge of the country ridden over. There- 
fore when the civil war was precipitated upon the country 
this branch of the Confederate service entered the strife 
>jnusually well equipped for it. 

In the early years of the war, the Soutliern cavalry 
was rather superior to that of the national army, and it 
continued to maintain a high degree of excellence to the 
close. Later on, however, the Federal cavalry became 
educated in the dash and horsemanship necessary to suc- 
cessfully compete with it. 

Jeb. Stuart, Fitzhugh Lee, Rosser, Forrest, Wheeler 
and others were born troopers. They had the courage 
754 



THE CONFEDERATE TROOPERS. 755 

and the daring necessary for such service, and were pos- 
sessed of a strong order of military sagacity. 

General Fitzhu^jh Lee, who succeeded to the command 
of the Confederate cavalry after the death of General 
Stuart, contributes these recollections of the campaign 
from the Rapldan : 

" Just preceding the crossing of the river by General 
Grant, our cavalry had taken its station near Hamilton's 
Crossing, about three miles from Fredericksburg. We 
occupied the extreme right of the line of battle. The 
occasion was a vital one, for the enemy intended an im- 
portant advance. The first orders we received directed 
us to move towards the fords which the Federals were 
using. 

"We met the advance of one of his columns a litde 

over half a mile beyond Todd's Tavern, and fell back 

and made the fight at Todd's. The day following my 

cavalry disputed the Federal advance from that point 

to Spottsylvania Court-House. It was important that 

Lee should secure the strategic posidon of Spottsylvania. 

and it was my task to retard the advance of the enemy 

as much as possible so that this might be accomplished. 

•' Just before my arrival at the Court-House, however, 1 

learned that it was occupied by the Federal cavalry, and, 

when about making my dispositions to attack them to 

secure my own rear, I found that they were retreating in 

front of the Confederate infantry, which had arrived at 

the same point by a different road. This offered a 

chance for a fight, and the preparadons were made m- 

standy. The infantry formed a line of batde. and my 

cavalry was placed upon their right. Shordy afterwards 

General Jeb. Stuart nodfied me that the Federal cavalry 

was passing still further to my right and in die direction 

of Beaver Dam on the Virginia Central Railway, which 



756 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was one of our bases of supplies. He directed me to 
take my division and move after them, and I started out 
at once and struck the road. 

" The Federal column had passed about an hour before. 
I followed them, until information was received that the 
head of the column had turned down towards Hanover 
Junction, and that the movement was in the direction of 
Richmond. Immediate action was necessary. I at. once 
left the rear of their column, taking a nearer and more 
direct route for Richmond, and, by rapid movement, was 
enabled to get to Yellow Tavern, a point six miles from 
Richmond, about an hour before they arrived there. A 
line of battle was at once formed across the road to in- 
tercept them, and the batde of Yellow Tavern followed. 

"The Federals, I have understood, with Sheridan in 
command, had three divisions of cavalry under Wilson, 
Merritt and Gregg respectively. I had two brigades only 
under Wickham and Lomax, with a total of seven regi- 
ments — four in one brigade and three in the other. Gen- 
eral Gordon, of North Carolina, with another brigade, was 
in the rear of the Federals. The fighting was sharp and 
ugly at Yellow Tavern, and we maintained our position 
for several hours. But we were finally forced to with- 
draw, which we did by moving off to one side, leaving the 
Richmond road clear to Sheridan. 

"The saddest incident of the batde was the killing 
of General Stuart, the Confederate corps commander. 
He was mortally wounded just as the Federals had 
struck, in overwhelming numbers, both Lomax's and 
Wickham's brigades. As they were breaking, quite a 
cloud of Federals advanced with a rush to capture 
our artillery, and he, rallying a few men, dashed up 
and began firing his revolver at the rapidly approach- 
ing enemy. I was on another part of the line at the 



THE CONFEDERATE TROOPERS. 757 

moment, but came up just as he liad been shot, and 
eave directions to have him taken to the rear. He died 
the next day, and the command of the cavalry corps 
devolved on me. 

" We were compelled to retreat but, still the fight did 
some good. But for it I am not at all sure but that the 
Federals would have succeeded in getting into Richmond. 
As it was, the delay gave General Bragg, who was then 
commanding the Confederate capital and its lines of de- 
fenses, time to bring up troops from the other side of 
Richmond so as to meet Sheridan's approach and offer 
an effective bar to his further progress." 

Of the fight at Yellow Tavern, which led to the death 
of General Stuart, Major J. R. McNulty, says: 

" Towards noon the firing was of a desultory character, 
and we had a pretty heavy skirmish. Sheridan was then 
on the turnpike, and it was there that the firing continued 
at intervals. Gradually the Federals worked around to 
our right, and about four o'clock in the afternoon they 
concentrated a very heavy force on our front. We were 
lying on an old road and our Baltimore battery was 
ordered in position to cover it. On our side of the road 
there was an old brush fence, which had two gaps in it ; 
one where we entered, and the other to our left and front 
up nearer the turnpike. 

"The enemy put into position on a high eminence six 
pieces of artillery and opened on us heavily. They had 
rather a plunging line of fire and succeeded in killing two 
men, wounding five and disabling one gun. Immediately 
after this firing ceased the column of cavalr>- came down 
the turnpike and turned up the old road. We entered 
the gap in the brush and immediately charged guns. 
We got in probably two shots at the head of the 
column, but the onslaught was so sudden and heavy 



758 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

that it rather demoralized my men and we overshot 
them, 

"The enemy immediately surrounded my guns and 
charged past. There was a little squad of cavalry in the 
rear of the pieces and it made a countercharge and 
attempted to drive the Federals back, but it was unsuc- 
cessful. Finding the artillery apparently lost and our 
cavalry repulsed, we came through the gap out on the 
road. The Federals remained on the inside and followed 
us along the line of tiie fence, firing as they followed. 

" This fence was just on the crest of a hill. On the 
opposite side was a piece of timber. There was quite a 
descent to a branch that ran at right angles across the 
road. General Jeb. Stuart had the colors of the first 
Virginia Cavalry and, as the few men who had escaped 
from the plateau were retreating down the road, he stood 
with his horse near the edcfe of the branch and, in the 
din and confusion, he was giving some command. I 
could not hear what he said, but my impression was that 
he was trying to rally the men around the colors. 

" Whatever it was several of those who were mounted 
halted at the branch and, in a moment. General Stuart 
started with a few men up the hill, followed by perhaps 
thirty or forty more. 1 drew my sword and, returning, 
joined the party. 

"When we reached the crest the timber I have re- 
ferred to was discovered to be filled with the enemy, all 
acting- in concert with the charq;inor column. The first 
sounds that struck our ears were the cheers of the 
Federals over their success in charging the guns. Just 
at the crest of the hill General Stuart was shot. A very 
large man named Buck Childs, belonging to a Maryland 
company in the First Virginia Cavalry, caught him at 
one side and a smaller man, whose name I do not know, 



THE CONFEDERATE TROOPERS. 7o9 

caught him by the other and the two led him back. My 
impression is that one of his arms was broken and that 
he was shot in the neck. Others said that he was shot 
through the body. Some of my men, I think, assisted 
him into the ambulance. 

" Not more than thirty or forty men went up the hill. 
The rest were retreating back some four or five hundred 
yards from the bridge where some of the officers in 
reserve had formed a line either for the purpose of pre- 
venting pursuit or an attack from the rear. .Stuart was 
trying to rally his column to save his guns when he was 
shot." 

bitzhugh Lee's story continues : " I saw ver)' little 
of the surrender. The night before, when we had 
gotten very nearly to Appomatto.x, my cavalry was 
instructed to leave the rear of the main column and 
pass to the front. The Federals were then in Gen- 
eral Lee's front, and I was ordered to report to 
him in person. This was on the night of the 8th of 
April. I came up along the road and asked where 
General Lee's headquarters were. They were pointed 
out to me and simple enough they were. He had no 
tent. In a little cluster of pines across an open field 
there was an ambulance wagon, and his bed, mattress 
and blankets were on the ground. It was a cool night 
and a camp fire was burning, its smoky flame casting a 
weird light upon the scene about. The military chiefs of 
the Confederacy were there and I joined them. General 
Lee was dejected. He stood by the fire for a time in 
profound contemplation. Then he turned to us and the 
conference began which resulted in the effort to get to 
Lynchburg the next morning. 

"At daylight Gordon and I opened the fight. I was 
on his right. At first we were pretty successful. We 



760 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

drove Sheridan's cavalry out of the way and captured a 
battery which we succeeded in bringing in. Then the 
great, long lines of Federal infantry appeared, and I 
turned and said: 'The thing is up,' Gordon stopped 
his advance, there was a cessation of firing, and the flag 
of truce went out. 

"While the conference had been in progress the night 
before, I had said to General Lee: 'If we surrender to- 
morrow morning and I can get a chance, I would like to 
get my cavalry out of the way. Each man owns his own 
horse and I think he ought to be allowed to keep it.' In 
the Confederate service we would not put a man in the 
cavalry unless he could supply his animal. The govern- 
ment would not furnish horses. 

" He did not say anything one way or the other, but 
he gave me to understand that, after a flag of truce went 
out, things must remain in statu quo. The white flag 
stopped everything. So just before the climax I took my 
cavalry, moved still further to the right and formed my 
men there. I told them that, as they owned their horses, 
my advice to them was to keep them. I suggested that 
they separate in small bodies and go home. They were 
mainly from that part of the State and were familiar 
with the roads. I got away with my staff and rode 
clear around the lines, with the intention of joining 
General Johnston. But at Farmville I surrendered. 

" Of course it is impossible to depict the cavalry 
operations about General Lee's army in a few pages. 
Taking everything into consideration it did remarkable 
service with the lack of equipment and forage with 
which it often contended. 



chaptp:r lv] 

THE FLAG OF TRUCE. 

The cavalrymen standing to horse —An all-niglit vioil—The morning of Ihe last 
day— Moving forward to the attack — The Confederate army at sunrise— Custer 
in the advance — The flag of truce — A ride to tlie Confederate lines— C:oi. Hiiijgs' 
graphic description of its coming and going — Meeting Longsirect and Gordon — 
Custer and Sheridan. 

The night of the 8th closed upon a day of hard work 
and exciting events. By a forced and rapid march 
Sheridan's cavalry, with Custer in the van, had placed 
itself in front of the retreating Confederate army, and 
by stubborn fighting until after dark had forced back 
upon the main body that portion of its advanced guard 
not captured. The night passed amidst distant sounds 
of preparation for an early renewal of hostilities on the 
morrow and the hurried march of Ord's, Griffin's and 
Gibbon's infantry to support the troopers, which had 
gone around the enemy. 

The Seventh Michigan Cavalry, well in advance, was, 
like the rest of the mounted men, held in readiness for 
instant service, and Colonel George G. Briggs, its gallant 
commander, here takes up the narrative of the surrender 
as he saw it : 

" In open order of column by squadrons we stood to 
horse all night. The long hours were passed in silence, as 
neither lights nor fires were permitted. The deep shadows 
of the woods in which we were posted, and the chilly air 
of early spring that settled around and over us, were not 
calculated to inspire a sense of comfort or contentment; 

(7CA) 



762 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

so amid the gloom we thought of the morrow and the 
cliances of battle. The gray of morning was just giving 
place to the stronger light of full day when orders came 
to move forward at once. Only a short distance to the 
west, and almost directly in front of our former position, 
a line ot the enemy's skirmishers was seen advancing. 
My command at once deployed and was soon hotly en- 
gaged. Under the steady and rapid firing of our 
'Spencers' the advance of the enemy was checked, held 
for a time, and then forced slowly back. 

" While the engagement was in progress I rode to the 
top of a slight eminence to the front and right of my 
line, and from this elevation I was enabled to see what I 
took to be the entire Confederate army. It was eoino- 
into position in a sort of valley with higher land upon 
either side. There seemed to be orgeat confusion in 
their midst. Squads of men were running in various 
directions, and artillery, foot, and horse appeared badly 
mixed up in their effort to form a line of battle. 

"The scene thus presented was alike startling and 
suggestive. Scattered over the plain and along the 
inner sides of the bordering elevation was the army of 
Lee, cut off from further retreat and hurr\ing its prep- 
arations for defence. Its advance seemed to have been 
suddenly arrested, and, recoiling from danger in front, 
was moving in masses rather than by well-defined lines 
or columns to different portions of the field. 

"At this sight of the enem\-, in apparent confusion 
and without the necessary formations to repel an attack, 
I instinctively took off my hat and waved it above my 
head in exultation over the discovery. Here was the 
opportunity for delivering a crushing and final blow to 
the war, and I exclaimed aloud: *(^h for Sheridan and 
iiis ravalr\' now !' 



THE FLAG OF TRUCE, 



763 



"Turning to observe the progress of my own com- 
mand, I saw to my left and rear, as if in answer to my 




CAVALRY CHARGE. 

wish, General Custer's approaching column. Knowing 
the o-eneral well, I rode with all speed to join h!'" .nul 



764 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

hurriedly inlormed him ol what 1 had seen, and the 
splendid opportunity for a charge that at the moment 
presented itself. 

" Turning to his staff, he gave, in his quick, nervous 
way, orders to have the command closed up and pushed 
forward with all possible haste. Away dashed the offi- 
cers with these orders to his brigade commanders, and 
at the same time he said to me : 

" ' Show me the way.' 

"Custer's command on this occasion presented a most 
striking and beautiful effect in color, as also in concen- 
trated power for action. Following the general and his 
staff, and thrown to the morning breeze, floated not less 
than twenty-five rebel battle-Hags capUired from the 
enemy within ten days. These, wnth division, brigade, 
and regimental colors of the command, the red neckties 
of the men, and the blue and yellow of their uniforms, 
made a picture — as with flashing sabres they moved 
into view — at once thrillinij and beautiful. 

"By this time the rapidly advancing column had 
reached a point from which its approach could be seen 
by the enemy, and while preparations were being made 
to send forward a dismounted party to let down some 
fences, a battery of the enc^my opened fire, but the shells 
passed over without damage. 

" Custer, from a hasty glance of the enemy's position, 
evidently thought a better point of attack could be had 
by the flank and farther on. Therefore he changed 
direction and moved to the right — a movement that soon 
hid his forces from the enemy and carried them by a road 
or opening through a piece of woods. 

"When I first met General Custer at the head of his 
division I had said to liim : 

'"General, if you charge the enemy I want to go in 
with vou.' To wliirh ho replied, 'All ri-^ht.' 



THE FLAG OF TRUCE. 705 

"That he would soon strike a favorable point for such 
a charge I felt confident, and as he moved away I rode 
back to my regiment, which was still exchanging shots 
with the enemy, 

"As my command was deployed and engaged, it could 
not be used to join a charge, which I felt certain would 
soon be made. I gave it in command of the next officer 
in rank, and rode rapidly away to join Custer. Before 
I reached him there suddenly emerged out of a piece of 
woods three or four horsemen, the leader of whom was 
waving a white object over his head. This was the 
famous flag of truce by which the desire of General 
Lee to surrender W3,s /Irs I communicated to the Union 
forces, and by me it was first seen. 

" This flag, which terminated the civil war, was a 
common towel, and is now in the possession of Mrs. 
Custer, having been presented to her gallant husband 
in recoo-nition of his brilliant services, and also from the 
fact that to him it was first directed. 

" Halting a moment to observe this approaching squad, 
I soon determined by the speed at which they were rid- 
ing and the direction from which they came that their mis- 
sion was one of importance. Satisfied, from my brief 
observation of this party and its movements that no trick 
for my capture was intended, I put spurs to my horse and 
dashed towards them, and was soon face to face with the 
approaching party. Drawing rein for a moment, as we 
neared each other, the leader hurriedly asked : 

" ' Where is the general commanding ? We have de- 
spatches of importance.' 

" Pointing in the direction, I said : 

"'General Custer is at the head of his column right 

over there,' 

"Chano-ino- dieir course to the point indicated, away 



766 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

they dashed. From the rapid ridiii;,; I had done, the 
jumping of fallen timber as well as two or three fences, 
my saddle girth had become loosened, the cloth had 
slipped back, and I was about to lose it. Dismounting 
to adjust this difficulty, I was delayed a few minutes. 

"In the meantime the party I had directed to General 
Custer had reached him, and by the time I came up they 
were starting to return with Custer's answer, General 
Whittaker, his chief-of-staff, accompanying them. 

" Things were moving very rapidly then. What takes 
much time to write occupied very little tinie in fact. To 
arrest the further spilling of blood and prevent a collis- 
ion of troops liable to occur at any moment was the 
object of Lee, and this his messengers understood. 
They had ridden hard w-ith a message intended to arrest 
the farther advance of the Union troops, and with equal 
speed did they return with the answer. 

" From General Custer I obtained permission to ac- 
company this returning party, but tliere was no oppor- 
tunity for conversation with those composing it, for it 
was little less than a race, and one so hot that, with a 
horse already pretty well blown from hard riding, I was 
barely able to keep up. Indeed, on this occasion, and 
for the reason named, I might have been called a 'rear 
guard.' In explanation of my poor mount on this occa- 
sion, it may be well to say that during the seven preced- 
ing days I had lost three horses — killed in battle — and 
thus it happened that on the morning of the Qtli my 
steed was not a thoroughbred. He was unequal to the 
work that day given him, and was never fit to ride 
again. 

" Dismounting at Lee's head-quarters, I was met by 
several officers, who inquired: 

"'What's up?' 



THE FLAG OF TRUCE. -jCT 

" Stopping to make reply, I soon became an object of 
interest and the centre of quite a group of anxious and 
animated men, most of whom seemed unaware of what 
was then transpiring. When, in answer to an inquiry as 
to what the meaning ot this flag of truce was, I an- 
swered, *I think about your terms to surrender,' tiie 
proposition was promptly rejected. 

" Numerous expressions of dissent were made, and one 
officer in particular was quite indignant — felt personally 
insulted and wanted satisfaction. He was at once sup- 
pressed, one of his brother officers saying to him : 

"'This officer is here under a flag of truce, is entitled 
to its protection, and you should not insult him.' 

" Than the army of Lee none I believe was ever 
more loyal to its chief; and from the temper and dispo- 
sition of his officers even on the day of surrender I am 
confident if he had directed they would have cheerfully 
gone, into battle to the death. 

" Durinn" the short time I was observino- these tliin^fs — 
say twenty minutes — officers were continually coming and 
going, and several prominent generals were pointed out. 
AmoncT such as I remember were Lonsfstreet, Hill, and 
Gordon. While thus en^^aged, and having my attention 
directed to other matters, I had not noticed the reap- 
pearance of my party until after it had mounted and 
was moving away. My 'Good-day, gentlemen,' and 
military salute as mounting I rode away, were politely 
but not very cordially returned. I did not attempt 
to overtake the now rapidly riding party returning 
to General Custer, but after following their course 
through the enemy's lines I changed direction and rode 
back to where I had left my regiment. 

" Once there, I told the officers the story of my adven- 
tures, and we congratulated each other upon the pros- 



768 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

pect of a speedy termination of the war. The appear- 
ance of the flag of truce and the request of Lee were 
rapidly communicated to the army, and while it arrested 
all further fighting, no one knew whether those in con- 
sultation would agree or not ; and so our forces were 
massed, and we again stood to horse awaiting results. 
All were nervous and excited. The final and official 
notice of the surrender was not received until about 
three p. m., if I remember aright, and then followed a 
scene that I can no more describe than I can forget. 
The tension of a mental strain, such as those who 
hourly face danger and death can only know, was sud- 
denly loosened. Visions of home and loved ones ap- 
peared, and joy alone dimmed many an eye, and from 
lips tlie power of speech was often taken." 



I 



CHAPTER LVII 

STOPPING THE FINAL CHARGE. 

Custer at Appomattox — Across Lee's line of retreat — Cavalry preparing to charge 
— A brilliant morning pageant — A flag of truce — Custers reply — Whiitaker hunt- 
ing for Lee — Longstreet and Ciordon's answer — Efforts to stop the tiring — A South 
Carolina regiment's determination — How the suiTender was received — Elation of 
the Federal troops. 

The fatigues, dangers and desperate work of Sheri- 
dan's cavalrymen from Five Forks to Appomattox can 
never be described or appreciated by any one not a 
member of that famous band of troopers. Night and 
day it was on the march and in the fight, pursuing Lee's 
flying columns with a relentlessness that only a vision 
of the expiring fires of war could kindle. 

Grant, feeling that the end was near, was constantly 
filling Sheridan with enthusiasm, and he in turn was im- 
parting his impulsive spirit to Custer, Devens and Mer- 
ritt, who handled the three divisions of his command. 

Only the night before the surrender Custer enveloped 
Appomattox station with his famous cavalrymen, ant! 
captured three heavily-laden railway trains of supplies 
which the Confederate leader had ordered up trom 
Lynchburg to provision his army. He also took a supply 
train of 200 wagons, twenty-five pieces of artillery in ac- 
tion, and many prisoners. Then he stood his command 
to horse all night to march again at daybreak. TIk- 
honor of receiving the flag of truce from Lee early that 
mornine could not have been more fittinijlv conferred. 
No general officer below Sheridan in all that army had 

2Y (7»;'.t) 



770 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



done more than the famous leader of the Third cavalry 
division to hasten the end. General Whitaker, his chief 
of-staff, whom Colonel Briggs introduces as the officer 
charged by Custer with the delicate duties of deter- 
mining the attitude of the Confederates in relation to 
the surrender, can give the best testimony in relation 
to the final scenes. 

" It had been litde more than a running fight ever since 
April 1st. at Five Forks," he relates, "and our hard cav- 




THE LAST CAVALRY CHARGE OF THE WAR. 

airy batde on the night of the Sth at Appomattox 
station left the men well worn and tired ; yet their 
spirits were good, and every one seemed imbued with 
the faith that the war was rapidly nearing its close. 
There was no extra effort asked of them that was not 
promptly responded to. All night we were ready for 
s(>rvice at any moment, and by daylight on the morning 
of the 9th were moving toward the enemy, around the 



STOPPING THE FINAL CHARGE. 771 

right flank of the infantry Hne of battle, which had been 
formed just before dayll«4ht to reheve the cavalry. The 
infantry had been brought up by forced marching during 
the night, and Sheridan was on the ground personally 
directing the massing of his entire cavalry corps untler 
General Merritt. I don't know how it happened, unless it 
was because we were first ready, that Custer's division 
led again that morning. The sun was just about show- 
ing its face in the east when our column halted to close 
up just after crossing a ditch. At this moment from Gen- 
eral Custer's side I rode to the top of a small hill in front 
of us and there I beheld the grandest scene of the war. 
Gordon's final charge had just been repulsed. The two 
lines were exchanging rifle shots onl)-. The entire Con- 
federate army seemed to me to be drawn up in a line of 
battle upon a broad and beautiful plain, with a range of 
sloping hills on either side. Artillerymen stood to their 
guns, the infantry was in perfect line, with colors flying, 
and all the pomp and show that one would have hardly ex- 
pected to find upon the verge of a surrender. I cast my 
eyes over the spirited scene for a moment, and then rode 
back to Custer with all possible haste, saying: 

"'Lee's army is in line just beyond the plain in front 
of us, and in full view from the crest of the hill yonder.' 

" Custer's eye brightened, and he sent his aides back 
with orders to close up rapidly in column by squadrons. 
There was but a moment's delay, and then he rode rap- 
idly forward. As soon as his practised eye took in the 
situation, he moved to the right to find a more favorable 
lay of the ground for a charge. Our force had hardly 
come in sight before the enemy's guns opened on us and 
we ran a fire of artillery, each successive battery in turn, 
as we moved eastward along the line, taking a shot at 
us. Yet the force following Custer moved on as his 



772 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

aides carried the order for sabres to be drawn, and the 
tramp of our horses and the Hght artillery, six guns to 
each brigade, seemed to make the very earth shake. 
The Third division presented a beautiful sight; sabres 
flashed in the morning sunlight, colors were flying, and" 
every man seemed imbued with the spirit of the occa- 
sion. There were no mules or wagon trains about, and 
every soldier on the field was a fighting man, feeling that 
the charge Custer was preparing to make, supported by 
Sheridan and the entire corps, would terminate the war, 
and as it was the ambition of all to be in at the death, 
there w'ere no stragglers. 

"At the very height of the military pageant, and amidst 
the hurried preparations for the onset, an officer came 
rapidly riding toward us just as we w^ere beyond the 
point near a skirt of the woods Custer had selected at 
which to charge. He was waving about his head a flatr 

O O C7 

of truce. He rode up and asked for the commanding- 
officer. General Custer responded, when he presented 
General Lee's compliments and asked for an immediate 
cessation of hostilities. General Custer replied : 

'• ' I am not in sole command upon this field, but will 
report the request to General Sheridan, and I can only 
stop the charge upon an announcement ot an uncon- 
ditional surrender.' 

"The officer assured him that such was the meaning 
of the truce. 

"General Custer then turned to me and said : 

" ' Whitaker, return with this ofhcer and say to Gen- 
eral Lee that I cannot suspend hostilities or stay this 
charge without the assurance that his army is to be here 
unconditionally surrendered, and get me his answer 
soon as possible.' 

" I started with the officer toward the Confederate 



STOPPING THE FINAL CHARGE. 11 W 

generals. We hurried as fast as our horses would take us 
and soon entered General Lee's line. I found the in- 
fantry ready for battle, and the artillerymen standin*^^ at 
their shotted guns. 

"The officer with whom I was riding said nothing to 
me or I to him, but as we passed through the lines the 
artillerymen, seeing a Confederate and Yankee riding 
together, wanted to know what was up; one soldier, I 
remember, asked : 

"'What's that Yankee doing in herewith his arms 
on?' 

" Upon our inquiry for Lee we learned tliat he had 
gone to the rear in search of General Grant. Desiring 
some assurances from the next in command, we struck 
a road which we followed for a short distance, and came 
upon General Longstreet and General Gordon on a 
knoll under some large trees — there were no tents, house, 
or evidences of head-quarters. 

" Major R. M. Sims, of Longstreet's staff, was the 
officer who bore the truce to Custer, and he now re- 
ported to his chief what Custer had said. Longstreet 
turned to me and stated that General Lee was not there 
in person, but had gone to the rear to confer with Gen- 
eral Grant. 'General,' said I, 'General Custer desires 
the assurance that this truce means the surrender ot this 
army in order that he may be justified in stopping the 
charge he is about to make. In other words, he desires 
to know what is meant by asking for a suspension of 
hostilities ? ' 

"Both Lono-street and Gordon assured me that it 

o 

meant a surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, 
and that I could so assure General Custer. 

"Just at this instant I heard rapid firing in the direc- 
tion where Custer was in line. General Gordon ex- 



774 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

plained that it was being- done under the command of a 
South CaroHna officer who had not yet been reached 
with the order for no more firing. In Lee's haste to 
leave the field for the rear is indicated a desire to get 
terms from Grant before the latter knew Sheridan had 
built a wall in front. It appeared that Lee started back 
where he hoped to reach Grant immediately when he 
knew that Gordon's charge had failed, A stronof in- 
fantry line across his retreat to Lynchburg forced him 
to write his letter of April 9th, which did not reach 
Grant in several hours, as he had swunor around in 
the wake of Sheridan on that thirty-seven mile flank 
movement, and turned up with him in the front of Lee's 
army. 

" I deprecated the useless sacrifice of the lives of so 
many brave men, and was told by Longstreet and 
Gordon that they were and had been for several days ex- 
ceedingly anxious to stop the further shedding of blood, 
\but that General Lee was determined to get to Lynch- 
burg and would not believe it possible that we were in 
his front in force. While we were talking Ord and 
Chamberlain's infantry moved out from the west for 
the charge in line of batde in splendid order. 

" The Confederate generals begged me to take the 
truce, ride forward and stop it. I replied : 

" ' I will if the officer who accompanied me here will 
go with me.' 

" Captain Sims now informs me that he was obliged to 
go upon some other service, and Major Brown, of Long- 
street's staff, was designated to take his place. I had 
supposed myself correct in the belief that Captain Sims 
aided me in halting the infantry, but as it is more proba- 
ble that I should foreet who went with me than that he 
who went should forget it, of course Captain Sims is cor- 



STOPPING THE FINAL CHARGE 776 

rect on that point. The infantry line was movincr lor 
ward as we passed through the Confederat<; forces and 
rode out toward our advancing- troops. Naturally it was 
a moment of intense excitement. Unless we could soon 
stop Ord's infantry, it and the Confederate force behind 
us might open fire at any moment. At this juncture, 
having taken the flag of truce from the officer accom- 
panying me I waved it over my head as frantically as pos- 
sible, and we rode forward at a break-neck speed toward 
the centre of the moving line. 

" Here I found General Ord, and assured him that 
Lee's army had surrendered. In an instant he passed 
the news to his subordinate generals. The officer with 
me returned to Longstreet's head-quarters, and our line 
halted with the knowledge that their fighting days were 
over. Cheer after cheer went up from the men but a 
moment before advancing to the deadly charge, and the 
^reat War was ended. 

"Amidst these scenes of rejoicing, with my heart in 
my mouth by reason of the excitement I had been under, 
I rode off with the truce still in hand to find Custer. 
I went alone at much risk of getting shot, as some South 
Carolina troops did not like to stop fighting, and reach- 
inof the division learned that General Custer had become 
so impatient at my delay in returning and so excited 
with the dramatic events then transpiring, that he bor- 
rowed a white handkerchief from one of his orderlies, 
and using it as a truce went in himself to try and find 
General Lee. 

"As soon as I had time to recover myself from the 
intense strain that had been upon me, I put the llag of 
truce, which h:..! come to Custer to announce General 
Lee's surrender, and which I had used to stop Ord's ad- 
vance, into the breast of my coat. Later, when General 



776 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Custer returned, I cut a small piece off the towel and 
handed the priceless relic to him, saying: 

" ' This trophy, which is the emblem of the peace you 
have done so much to secure, rightfully belongs to you.'" 

This, Mrs. Custer, the wife of the famous cavalry offi- 
cer, has at this time. The relic and the compliment had 
been magnificently earned by her gallant husband. His 
services to the Union during the war had been of a very 
valuable character. He was really the great cavalry- 
man of the Federal armies, and will always be so re- 
garded. He was as picturesque a figure as the Con- 
federate cavalry officer Stuart, and there were many 
points of resemblance between them. Each reached 
the cavalier type of English history. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 
lee's army surrendered. 

Sheridan's Cavalry on the War-Path — Attacking the Enemy's Communications — 
Brilliant Cavalry Manoeuvres — The Battles at Dinwiddie — Breaking over the 
Petersburg Trenches — Gallant Assaults by the Infantry — The Lines Pierced — The 
Battle at Five Forks^Lees Right Wing turned — Confederate Retreat touard 
Petersburg — The City Evacuated — Richmond Falls — I.ce in Pull Retreat — Grant 
Pursues to Intercept — Swift Marching and Hard Fighting — Grant proposes to 
Lee to Surrender — The Correspondence — Closing Battles — Lee's Army Surrounded 
— The Surrender at Appomattox. 

Throughout the morning of April ist a furious bom- 
bardment had been kept up along the whole line of the 
Petersburg defenses. This was merely preliminary to 
the general and combined onset which had been ordered 
for four o'clock on April 2d. Wright's corps, which was 
on the centre, struck vigorously and at the appointed 
time, driving the enemy at all points and sweeping all in 
his front beyond Hatcher's Run, taking many prisoners 
and guns. Ord was equally successful, and the two 
corps, wheeling to the right closed upon the devoted city 
as far as the Appomatto.x, seizing the Southside Railroad. 
Parke also had captured the outer works in his front, and 
the most salient and important works south of the city 
were in the besieger's hands. Wright at this time was 
confident that he could break through the enemy's lines, 
and all the corps commanders were splendidly confident ; 
but Grant thought that the hour for the finishing stroke 
had not yet come. Lee's army driven out of Petersburg 
might all be concentrated against Sheridan and the Fifth 
Corps, now several miles distant from the extreme left of 
Meade's and Ord's armies. But the enemy were driven 

777 



778 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

at all points. With Meade hammering at their right, and 
Sheridan and the Fifth Corps riding through them on 
their left, they broke in confusion and were soon stream- 
ino- towards Petersburg. It seemed as though the hos- 
tile armies must enter the city together. Lee saw the 
defeat of his army with the composure of despair. " It 
has happened as 1 thought," he said ; " the lines have 
been stretched until they broke." 

The discomfited army took refuge in the interior line 
of works immediately around the city. All the outer 
works had been carried, excepting Forts Gregg and 
Baldwin. They lay in front of the Twenty-fourth Corps, 
and it became necessary to carry them by assault. Three 
brigades of Ord's were given the task. The enemy 
fought with determined valor, repulsing the assaults 
repeatedly, but at last the parapet was gained, and, after 
fighting half an hour with clubbed muskets, the gallant 
remnant of Fort Gregg's defenders surrendered, and 
Fort Baldwin was evacuated. Brief as this check was, 
it gave Lee time to rally his disheartened men. Long- 
street also came to the rescue, with his ten thousand 
comparatively fresh troops. 

Grant, after the victory- at Five Forks, ordered Sheri- 
dan to cross the Appomattox west of Lee's army with 
the Fifth Corps and cavalry. He was strongly impressed 
with the opinion that Lee would make every effort to 
evacuate Petersburg, and endeavor to escape with the 
remnant of his army by way of the Danville road. If he 
succeeded in joining Johnston's forces, then confronting 
Sherman in North Carolina, he might keep up a desul- 
tory warfare for months. With a view of preventing 
Lee's escape, he ordered a furious bombardment upon 
the city, and especially upon the railroad bridge, early on 
the morning of April 3d. This was, in fact, kept up 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. T7i« 

throughout the night, and at 2 a.m. General I'arke pushed 
forward his skirmishers to feel the enemy. I'hey were 
opposed by a strong picket hne, but by dayhght lie dis- 
covered that the pickets were all of the enemy left in his 
front. The sounds of explosions in the city were 
additional indications of evacuation. Parke accordingly 
pressed forward rapidly and entered the city without 
resistance. Wright and Ord also advancing, soon alter- 
v^ards discovered the works in their front vacant. The 
enemy had fled during the early hours of the previous 
evening, and was already far on his road westward. 

To President Lincoln, who was at City Point visiting 
the army, Grant telegraphed : " Petersburg was evacua- 
ted last nieht. Pursuit will be made immediatelv." The 
President was expected to visit the lines on April 3d, and 
witness the assault which Grant two days before had 
confidently expected would be required before the strong- 
hold was surrendered. He, however, now had no time 
for mere military displays. The defenders were in full 
flight, and his aim was to intercept, not merely to pursue. 
The orders to the various corps were all given with this 
aim. Lee was endeavoring to escape by the roads north 
of the Appomattox. He hoped to be able to cross that 
river some twenty miles west of Petersburg, and thence, 
seizing Burksville, on the Richmond and Davnville Rail- 
road, to find a way to join Johnston near the North Car- 
olina line. Instead of following in the same track. Grant's 
dispositions all looked to reaching Burksville tirst. He 
knew that Sheridan was in a ncck-and-neck race with the 
fugitives, and felt confident tliat he would be abl«- not 
only to throw his cavalry across their front, but to main, 
tain himself there until the remainder of the army arrived 
to support him. 

The entire army were in splendid trim for fast march- 



780 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ing. Every victory had been announced to them, and 
their enthusiasm was wrought to such a pitch that nothing 
could quench their ardor. During the following three 
days they marched mile for mile with the cavalry through 
muddy roads, often without their rations. There was no 
enemy in sight, but they knew he was within a few miles, 
making for the same point, and his reaching there first 
might prolong the war indefinitely. \i they got there first, 
they might look for a speedy end of their hardships. 
Even as they marched they were further cheered by the 
news of the capture of Richmond. " Richmond is taken." 
was shouted along from column to column. And cheer- 
ing to the echo, the men pressed forward to catch the 
Army of Northern Virginia. 

The news was indeed true. On the morning of April 
3d, General Weitzel, pressing forward under orders, 
found no resistance to his occupation of the late Con- 
federate capital. The day before, with the first news of 
the breaking of Lee's lines, President Davis and his 
Cabinet made haste to pack up the archives, and loading 
them on a special train, and escaped. Theirs was one 
of the last trains that left the city over the Danville road. 
The leaders of the Confederacy had left the city to take 
care of itself Weitzel's advanced guard had encountered 
nothing more terrifying than hundreds of the disreputable 
classes, who had made the most of the license of anarchy 
to rifle the liquor-stores and pillage the tradesmen of all 
sorts. Indeed the latter, more devoted to the fortunes of 
their fallen cause, had in many instances given their stocks 
of goods to clothing the retreating soldiers and had pro- 
visioned them for at least a stage or two of their flight. 
The military authorities, too, had applied the torch to all 
the arsenals and other military buildings. All supplies for 
which they had no transportation were included in the 



782 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

burning. The flames had communicated to long rows of 
warehouses, and the machinery of the Fire Department 
having been damaged wantonly, the city was exposed to 
the horrors of a general conflagration without any organ- 
ized means of fighting it. Nearly a third of Richmond was 
destroyed before the flames were subdued, and General 
Weitzel spent several days in reducing the turbulent 
element of its demoralized population to decent respect 
for law and order. 

Meanwhile, the race between the hostile armies 
continued. On April 4th, Sheridan's advance division 
of cavalry reached Jetersville, which lies about half-way 
between Burksville and the Richmond and Danville 
Railroad bridge over the Appomatox. He found that 
part of Lee's army had already arrived at Amelia 
Court-House, a few miles nearer the river. At the tele- 
graph-office in Jetersville Sheridan had found a dispatch 
from Lee. not yet sent, ordering two hundred thousand 
rations to be sent at once to Farmville. This was at 
once evidence that he had no idea that the Union cavalry 
had cut the Danville road, and that he was making 
for Farmville. He was evidently under the delusion that 
he was being pursued, not headed off Sheridan had the 
telegram transmitted and next day captured the trains. 

The difficulty in the way of the dashing cavalryman 
was that his forces might prove too small to successfully 
meet the enemy. He had only ten thousand men. and 
the whole of Lee's army was at hand. A determined 
attack of infantry would scatter his comparative handful 
of mounted men and thus open the road for retreat to 
Danville. But the Confederates, starting with but a 
single day's radons, had already been nearly two days on 
the road and Sheridan was across the only road by 
which he could get supplies. Lee had scattered his men 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDKKED. 783 

through the country to forage, but two cars of corn per 
man was all the impoverished region afforded. Al- 
though Sheridan did not know why he was not attacked, 
he lost no time in throwing up rude breastworks and 
preparing to hold his position to the last. On April 5. 
he discovered that the retreating army was pushing 
forward toward Farmville on the Petersburg and Lynch- 
burg Railroad, General Uavies, with one of Sheridan's 
brigades, struck the escort of a wagon-train at Painsville. 
five miles from Jetersvillc, and swooping down, destroyed 
the train, capturing many of its escort and five pieces of 
artillery. Infantry sent out to relieve the escort was 
also badly handled by Sheridan's men. 

The occupation of Jetersville was notice to Lee that 
escape by way of Burksville was impossible. Accordingly, 
on the morning of April 6th he turned the head of his weary 
and disheartened army toward Farmville, seemingly hop- 
ing to reach Lynchburg, disperse his regiments and 
begin a partisan warfare in the mountains. The evi- 
dences of the demoralization of his men were now multi- 
plying hourly. The thickets were full of half-starved 
straeelers, who had thrown away their weapons and 
were glad to reach the Union lines and share the rations 
of their late adversaries. They reported that the Con- 
federates, with scarcely a show of organization, were 
breaking their muskets, and burying their cannons along 
the line of their flight. 

Already Grant's splendid combinations had drawn the 
net ver)^ close around the fugitives There was now but 
one avenue of escape open, and toward it Let-'s men 
hurried with all the speed their almost famished con- 
dition permitted. There was just a possibility that the 
ubiquitous cavalrymen had not closed up the roads along 
the Appomattox running to Farmville, and at that place 



784 . LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

he had ordered and hoped to find rations for the tem- 
porary reHef of his hungry comrades. Pressing forward, 
he found not Sheridan, but Ord's headquarters escort 
and two regiments of infantry disputing the possession 
of the bridges, while the remainder of his corps was far- 
ther south, sufficiently entrenched to prevent any rupture 
in his lines. As the bafrted fuo^itives turned aofain north- 
west, they ran against Sheridan's cavalry at Sailor's 
Creek, a small southern tributary of the Appomattox. 

The opposing force here being only cavalry, Lee moved 
up his grim legions, hoping to brush away their light- 
armed opponents. Crook, acting under Sheridan's orders, 
attacked the flank of a heavily-escorted train, while Mer- 
ritt, moving northwestward, placed himself across the road 
by which the enemy was flying. Meanwhile, the Sixth 
Corps, pressing forward on the Deatonsville road, struck 
the rear and flank of Lee's tired men. Under his ad- 
vance they retired hastily, but reformed across the marshy 
banks of Sailor's Creek, and presented a front with some- 
thing like the determination that had always characterized 
the Army of Northern Virginia. As the old Sixth charged 
across the swamp, driving the enemy before them, Crook's 
and Merritt's men charged from the opposite hillside and 
eighteen guns opened upon the demoralized men in the 
middle. There was nothing to do but yield ; seven thou- 
sand men and seven orenerals, including Ewell, surrend- 
ered. Fourteen guns were captured by the cavalry. Part 
of the wagon-train had got away, but nearly a fifth of 
Lee's army laid down its arms in the open field. The 
remainder of the army kept up its flight, still hoping to 
reach Farmville and the coveted rations. 

The Federal corps reached Farmville early the next 
morning. Here, not far apart, were two bridges across 
the Appomattox, and Lee strained every muscle to reach 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. 785 

them first. Humphreys had already crossed the river, 
when Grant arrived and ordered Crook's cavalry to cross 
at once to his support. Crook, iiowever, encountered a 
heavy force of infantry guarding trains, and charging 
them gallantly, was repulsed, leaving General Gregg a 
prisoner. Nevertheless, the columns of the pursuers 
were converging everywhere, and following the enemy 
so close that the bridges fired when they crossed, were 
possessed so quickly by the Union forces that they were 
never wholly destroyed. A couple of hours sufficed to 
repair the damage, and the troops were again at the 
heels of their quarry. 

Sheridan seemed to anticipate the wishes of his com- 
mander. When, on the day after Sailor's Creek, it 
seemed desirable to Grant to direct the cavalry farther 
westward to intercept the fugitives, his orders found 
Sheridan with the movement already half executed. He 
had heard that there were eight trains of provisions at 
Appomattox station, and he proposed to get there first, 
and destroy them before they could refresh the men for 
whom they were intended. Throughout the night of 
April 6th the several corps marched on. It was nearly a 
week since they made the assaults which broke the lines 
at Petersburg, and from that early morning charge they 
had been marched and fought nearly eighteen hours a 
day, often hungry, owing to the difficulty of keeping the 
trains well up during their swift movements. Still, they 
responded to every new demand upon them with undi- 
minished alacrity. They recognized this as the crisis 
which, in all probability, would make further demands 
upon them unnecessary. 

From Farmville, on the morning of April 7th. Grant 
dispatched this note to Lee : 

2Z 



786 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

''General : The results of the last week must convince you of the hope- 
lessness-of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia 
in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift the 
responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the surren- 
der of that portion of the Confederate States Army known as the Army of 
Northern Virginia." 

Lee's commanders had already suggested that the 
time had come when further marching and fighting was 
unavaiHng. His soldiers were weary, footsore and fam- 
ished. For days no return of them had been made., and 
his ranks were depleted by thousands of stragglers and 
deserters, who, finding themselves further from their 
homes, had faltered and gone back. They still had the 
pugnacity of desperation, and when attacked turned upon 
their assailants witli the fierce energy of a wounded and 
dying beast of prey. Lee, however, did not think "the 
time had come to surrender," and determined to prolong 
the struggle in hopes of better terms. 

On the night of April 7th he replied thus to Grant's 
note of the mornins:: 

''General : I have received your note of this day. Though not entirely 
of the opinion you express of the hopelessness of further resistance on the 
part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid 
useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, 
ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender." 

Grant was still at Farmville, when this note reached 
him the following morning. The days of incessant 
anxiety and straining responsibility had made him so ill 
that exhausted nature demanded a day of rest from 
physical exertion at least. Under date of April Sth he 
wrote: "Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of 
same date, asking the conditions on which I will accept 
the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just 
received. In reply I would say that, peace being my 
greatest desire, there is but one condidon I would insist 
upon, namely : that the men and officers surrendered 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. 787 

shall be disqualified from takinj^ up arms ac^aln a'^ainst 
the government of die United States, until properly ex- 
changed. I will meet you, or designate officers to meet 
any officers you may name for the purpose, at any point 
agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely 
the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of 
Northern Virginia will be received," 

Although Lee's first reply on its face looked like a 
willingness to surrender, there was no relaxation in the 
military dispositions to compel that result. With Meade 
north of the river on the heels of the retreating army, 
and with Sheridan's cavalry, and the Sixth and Ninth 
Corps in the soutli hurrying on toward Appomattox, 
Grant felt satisfied that all doubts of the Confederate 
Commander would speedily be removed. To Sheridan 
he wrote : '* I think Lee will surrender to-day. I addressed 
him on t!ie subject and received a reply this morning, 
asking me the terms I wanted. We will push him until 
the terms are agreed upon." His dispatches to the Presi- 
dent and Secretary of War indicate his confidence that 
tlie end was very near. 

During the night of the ytli, Lee withdrew from the 
front of the Second Corps, but by daylight the next 
morning the pursuers were again on his heels. It was a 
stern chase throughout the Sth. Sheridan was still urging 
forward his cavalry in the effort to head off the fugitives. 
Custer in the advance came up with four loaded trains at 
Appomattox station four miles south of the town. It 
was nearly dark, but Custer throwing his men in the rear 
of the trains captured them and their freight of supplies. 
Destrovine one and sendino; three of them back to Farm- 
ville in charge of train crews of volunteers from his own 
command he puslied on toward the Court- House, driving 
back a force of Confederate infantry, which had got 



788 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

almost in sight of the provisions of which they were in 
such dire need. As he pushed the demorahzed foe back, 
he captured twenty-five pieces of artillery and a hospital 
train coming up from the direction of Farmville, which was 
greatly surprised to find the inevitable cavalry again in 
the front. Skirmishing continued until late in the 
night when they had all been driven into Appomattox 
Court-House. A reconnoisance across the river de- 
veloped the fact, that the whole of the remnant of Lee's 
army was on the Farmville road awaiting the dawn to 
continue their flight. Sheridan at once sent word to 
Grant: " If General Gibbon and die Fifth Corps can get 
up to-night, we will perhaps finish the job in the morning. 
I do not think Lee means to surrender until compelled 
to do so." About midniorht of the 8th, while restinor in a 
farm house unable to sleep by reason of pain and 
exhaustion. Grant received the following communication 
from Lee : " April 8th : I received at a late hour your 
note of to-day. In m.ine of yesterday. I did not intend 
to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern \'ir- 
ginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be 
frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for 
the surrender of this army: but as the restoration of 
peace should be the whole object of all, I desired to know 
whether your proposals would lead to that end. I cannof 
therefore meet you with a view to surrender the army of 
Northern Virginia: but, as far as your proposal may 
affect the Confederate States forces under my command, 
I should be pleased to meet you at ten a. m., to-morrow, 
on the old stage road to Richmond, between the picket, 
lines of the two armies." 

Controversy over the various details of such an impor 
tant event naturally arises from many sources. How 
many and who bore the flags of truce that were the pre- 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. 7H9 

cursors of the end of the gigantic struggle, have been 
most fruitful subjects of discussion and clash of opinion. 
It is certain that a flag of truce reached the Union lines 
on the evening of April Sth, and Mr. C. E. Sears, now 
editor of the Louisville Post, was one of the Confederate 
officers who bore it. He thus describes his experiences 
during that important duty as well as his observations as 
an eye w^itness of the dramatic events which followed: 

" It was on the morning of April Sth, that a flag of 
truce was sent to the enemy's lines bearing the first 
letter relating to a surrender from General R. E. Lee to 
General Grant. Sharp skirmishing had been going on 
between our rear guard and the advanced columns of 
the enemy. So closely were we pushed throughout the 
day that the roadside was literally strewn with broken or 
abandoned wagons, disabled artillery, camp chests and 
cooking untensils. On every hand might be seen 
memorials of disaster which, if not so ghastly as those 
that marked the track of the Tartar tribe across the 
steppes of Asia, pursued by the vengeful Kalmuck cavalry 
they no less indicated the wreck of a once powerful and 
victorious army. 

" It was about twilight on the evening of the Sth that 
an officer of General R. E. Lee's staff rode up to General 
Fitzhueh Lee and handed him a letter with instructions 
that it be sent at once to the Federal lines. General 
Fitzhugh Lee gave the letter to his Quartermaster, Major 
Robert Mason, with the necessary instructions. Major 
Mason turned to me and asked me to accompany him. 
A private from one of the Virginia cavalry regiments was 
detailed to bear the flag, which consisted of a very dirty 
handkerchief that looked more like a black flag than a 
white one. But, tying it to a stick, we started bark 
along the road we had just come over. As the enemy 



V90 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

had pushed us hard all day, we thought his linen must be 
near ours. So, after passing our pickets, we exi)ected 
evey moment to encounter them. A dense mist com- 
menced falling. It became very dark. I raised my hand 
before my eyes and could hardly see it. But on we rode 
through the chill rain and the darkness, expecting a 
volley instead of a summons to halt, as the enemy must 
have anticipated some effort on the part of General Lee 
and his little army to break through and escape. 

"After riding about two or three miles we heard a 
tramp of troops just ahead of us. They had doubtless 
caught the sound of our rattling accoutrements and were 
preparing to give us a bloody reception. Major Mason 
spoke and told them we were under a flag of truce 
'bearinor a letter from Gen. R. E. Lee to Gen. Grant.' 
We thought they heard him, but ihey either did not 
hear or did not comprehend what he said. Thinking 
there was no further danger, we walked our horses on 
and in a moment we heard the heavy rattle of a regiment 
forming across the road. I then distincdy caught the 
sound of a voice saying, ' Let drive at 'em boys ; by 
G — d, let 'em have it ! ' We even heard the click of 
their cockine Cfuns. But, as fortune would have it, the 
order 'to let drive ' was immediately countermanded by 
an officer who seemed to arrive just in time, and, being 
better informed, thought it probable wc were under a 
flag of truce. At all events, he saved us, as we were 
only thirty steps off and would liave been riddled had the 
line opened fire. He ordered us to dismount and advance 
'one at a time.' This was done until we found ourselves 
seated in a corner of the fence on the roadsitle. The 
officers chatted pleasantly for an hour, while we waited 
to get a reply to the letter. At the exj^iration of that 
time an officer rode up with the information that General 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. 791 

Grant was 'on another part of the hne," and a reply 
could not be sent in before next mornincr. 

" Taking leave, we mounted and started back. It was 
a dreary ride. Sometimes our horses would stumble 
among the debris of a broken wagon. An obstruction 
caused me once to dismount and feel my way. It was a 
rifle gun, with broken wheel. It had belched forth its 
last thunder against the advancing enemy, and would 
soon be in their hands. We passed a strip of wood- 
land. Here and there was a small camp fire, with three 
or four weaned and silent forms crouching around the 
blazing fagots, for the night wind was chill and damp. 
They were " stragglers " — footsore, weary and hungry. 
They had dragged their limbs as far as possible, and, 
though they were not within our lines, they had done 
their best. The spirit was still willing. Their faces 
depicted despair. Poor atoms of suffering, they were 
perhaps, thinking of their starving loved ones at home, 
while they were starving here upon the wayside. These 
were men, too, who h.ad fought at Manassas and at 
Spotsylvania, and whose camp fires had more than once 
blazed in the foreground of Washington I 

"After considerable search we found the headquarters 
of Gen. R. E. Lee. Tlxey consisted of two rubbish fires 
and two ambulances. As we approached the first fire 
we heard the heavy and hard breathing of some one in 
sleep. It was Longstreet, who still suffered from the 
effects of the wound in his throat. At the other fire 
Gen. R. E. Lee was lying upon an oil-cloth and a blanket. 
I know not whether he was asleep, but think not. As 
we approached he rose to a sitting posture, and the fire- 
light fell upon his lace. Never had nature and misfor- 
tune combined to cast a countenance so sad and so 
noble. I thought of Charles on his litter after the Rus- 



792 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

sian charge at Pultowa, and Napoleon after the dreadful 
day at Waterloo. I wished for an artist to catch the 
features of that bronzed and mournful face. The iron 
entered the soul of Gen Lee that night. But when such 
natures fall they break into gold and diamond dust, " the 
proper metal of a perfect star." A few days I was with 
General Fitzhugh Lee at Saylor's creek when the enemy 
interrupted our retreat and cut off our left wing. Our 
cavalry had gone ahead, and we were riding to overtake 
the column when we encountered the obstruction. The 
fight soon raged fiercely. As soon as General Fitzhugh 
Lee realized the seriousness of the situation, he ordered 
me to find General R. E. Lee and advise him of it. The 
enemy had taken possession of the road for some dis- 
tance ahead of us, and, to escape his fire, I had to ride 
through yards and fields, over ditches and fences, and 
several times, when I thought I could safely turn for the 
main road, I was warned by the whistle of numerous bul- 
lets that his line was longer than I expected. At last I 
found Gen. Lee. I hurriedly told him of the disaster at 
Saylor's creek. He turned to Longstreet and said: 
' General, the enemy have completely isolated our left 
wing ; we must go and try restore the connection.' 

" Mahone was there, looking as shriveled as a shrimp 
and when he got orders to move he merely rode to the 
head of the column and said, ' Come on with me, m.en,' 
in a squeaking voice that seemed in sympathy with his 
elfish figure. It was then late in the afternoon and we 
had not gone far before we met a stream of stragglers 
They were the fragments of Picket's regiments. They 
recognized Gen. R. E. Lee and when he said, ' Men, you 
must form aline here whether you have arms or not,' 
they gathered about his horse, their faces begrimed with 
the smoke of battle and tlieir limbs wearied with the 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. 793 

labor of combat. But they threw up their hats and made 
an effort to cheer, crying out, ' Gen. Lee, we have fought 
for you for four years and we are wilHng to fight four 
more. If you say so, we will stay here and die.' General 
Lee turned his face away. He could not stand the sight 
of these battle-scarred heroes in despair. 

"An irregular line was formed. In the valley below we 
could see the dark, serried lines of Federal infantry mass- 
ing like a black cloud. The sun was setting. 

" On the morning of April 9th we made an effort to cut 
through the lines that surrounded us. The enemy were 
driven back for some distance by the ferocity of our 
charge, but they were too heavily massed behind for us 
to hope to carry out any considerable body ot men. In a 
short while Custer was seen ridinof toward us bearinLT a 
flag of truce, his long hair streaming in the morning 
wind. The letter he brought was in answer to the one 
Major Mason and myself had carried to the Federal 
lines the nio^ht before. We knew now what was meant. 
The wagon trains and artillery were being parked. De- 
sultory firing v/as heard here and there, but there was no 
volley, no charging of cavalry, no cheering of voices. We 
turned away. General Fitzhugh Lee and staff rode off 
toward James River for the purpose of crossing and 
working our way toward Johnson. At least such was my 
purpose. We had gone about a mile when he turned to 
me and asked where was his division. I did not know. 
' Ride back, see if you can find it, and bring it in this 
direction.' He was crying bitterly wlicn he gave me 
this order, and his voice was choked. We were all cry- 
ing ; and there are few sights in nature more pathetic 
than tears upon the face of a soldier. I rode back and 
saw the infantr\' stacking arms. I could see no traces of 
the cavalry division. I rejoined General Fitzhugh Lee. 
He said : ' Did you find my division ?* 



794 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"'No, sir.' 

" ' What did you see ?' 

'"The infantry were stacking- arms!' 

" I could hardly speak. We saw a squadron of cavalry 
on a hill in front. Thinking it was a detachment sent to 
intercept us, Major Jim Breathed, commanding the horse 
artillery of our division, and as gallant a soul as ever 
poured out its blood on a battlefield, drew his sabre and 
wanted to charge their.. There were only six or eight of 
us and it would have been folly. But he insisted, and 
we drew to charge the squadron, no one expecting to 
survive it. It proved, however, to be Confederates. 
That night we crossed James river and got the first food 
and the first sleep we had for many hours." 

Throughout Lee's three first replies to Grant's pro- 
posals, runs a vein of disingcniousness which subsequent 
events sufficienty interpreted. He was merely treating 
in the hope of gaining time and outwitting his antagonist. 
He had not yet despaired of getting a portion of his army 
out of the toils, even if it required another clinch to be 
made with all the desperation of a dying effort. It miMit 
spare him the humiliation of surrender. Grant seems to 
have fully apprehended his opponent's design. His reply 
sent April 9th reads : " Your note of yesterday is re- 
ceived. I have no authority to treat on the subject of 
peace. The meeting proposed for 10 a. m., to-day, could 
lead to no good. I will state, however, that I am equally 
desirous for peace with yourself, and the whole North 
entertains the sanVi feeling. The terms upon which peace 
can be had arc well understood. By tlie South layinor 
down their arms they will hasten that most desirable 
event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of 
millions of property not yet destroyed. Seriously hoping 
that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. 795 

another life, I subscribe myself, etc: U. S. Grant, Lieu- 
tenant-General." This dispatched, he hastened on to join 
Sheridan. 

The marching of the Union armies at this juncture, 
was as glorious as any fighting they had ever done, 
Ord's men had marched all but three of the twenty-four 
hours before 9 o'clock, April 9th, when they reached 
their appointed place in the plan of enmeshing Lee. Griffin 
after a march of twenty-nine miles, reached Sheridan's 
position at 6 a. m., on the morning of the ninth, just as 
Lee's heavy mass of infantry were about to lling them- 
selves upon the Union cavalry, and fight their way 
through. This they must do or surrender. '1 liey had 
made their onset upon Crook, who was gallantly disput- 
ing every foot with his dismounted cavalry who were far 
outnumbered. The troopers gave ground gradually, and 
the enemy taking fresh heart gave their yell and quicken- 
ing to a charging gait, redoubled their musketry volleys. 
When they thought the troopers beaten, they suddenly 
found themselves in contact with Gibbon's and Griffin's 
men and a division of colored troops. Their charge was 
stopped, iheir line halted. So sudden and disheartening 
was this discovery that they forgot to fire and wavering, 
broke to the rear. Sheridan reforming his troopers had 
again moved far to the Union left, and was about giving 
the order to charge when a Hag of truce issued out of 
the confused masses. The emergency had arisen wiiich 
demanded the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia. 

Sheridan, riding at once to the Court-House, rtu-rc 
met Generals Gordon and Wilcox, who informed him 
that negotiations for surrender were then in progress 
between Generals Grant and Lee. The fiery cavalry- 
man, suspicious lest it was merely a ruse to gain time 



796 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and prevent the death-stroke which he was prepared to 
deliver, said that he would not stay his intended charge 
unless he had definite assurance that surrender was in- 
tended. Gordon personally gave him this assurance, and 
at a subsequent interview half an hour later General 
Longstreet also declared that Lee was only awaiting the 
arrival of General Grant to make the surrender com- 
plete. Accordingly there was a temporary cessation of 
hostilities in that quarter. 

The dispatch to the Union commander which stayed 
the Federal charge was written by General Lee on 
April 9th. It ran : " I received your note of this morning 
on the picket line, whither I had come to meet you, and 
ascertain defmitely what terms were embraced in your 
proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of 
this army, I now ask an interview, in accordance with 
the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that 
purpose." 

Grant, however, was then on Meade's line, and the 
communication did not reach him until near noon. He 
at once replied: "Your note of this date is but this 
moment (11.50 a.m.) received, in consequence of my 
having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg roads 
to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I am at this 
writing about four miles west of Walker's Church, and 
will push forward in front for the purpose of meeting 
you. Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the 
interview to take place will meet me." 

Colonel Babcock, of Grant's staff, carried this reply 
through the enemy's lines to Lee. It was Colonel Bab- 
cock who found General Lee sitting by the roadside 
that has since become famous. His first anxiety was to 
have the truce extended all along the Union lines, so 
that no further hostilities should ensue. 



LEKS ARMY SURRENDERED. 797 

Grant sought Sheridan before proceeding to this mo- 
mentous interview, and learned from him liow completely 
the Confederate army was involved in the meshes. He 
then rode on to the place appointed for the meeting. This 
was the McLean house, which stood somewhat apart 
from the remainder of the village of Appomattox. ( i(.-n- 
erel Lee met his conqueror on the threshold, and con- 
ducted him into a litde parlor, in which were a table and 
two or three chairs. Into this narrow/ apartment were 
gathered besides Grant and his staff, Generals Sheridan 
and Ord. General Lee was attended only by Colonel 
Marshall. 

The contrast between the appearance of the two com- 
manding generals was most striking. General Grant, in 
one of his numerous conversations with John Russell 
Young, and described by the latter in his entertaining 
work, "Around the World with General Grant," thus 
relates this interestingf incident of this famous conference: 
"I received word that Lee would meet me at a point 
within our lines near Sheridan's headquarters. I had to 
ride quite a distance through a muddy country; and re- 
member that I was concerned about my personal appear- 
ance. I had an old suit on, was without my sword, and 
without any distinguishing mark of rank except th<> 
shoulder-straps of a lieutenant-general on a woolen 
blouse. I was splashed with mud in my long ride, and 
was afraid Lee might think I meant to show him some 
discourtesy by so coming — at least I thought so. But I 
had no other clothes within reach, as Lee's letter had 
found me away from my base of supplies. I kept on 
riding until I met Sheridan. The general, who was one 
of the heroes of the campaign, and whose pursuit of Lee 
was perfect in its generalship and energ)^ told me where 
to fmd Lee. I went up to the house where Lee was 



798 LIFE GF GENERAL GRANT. 

waiting, and found him in a fine, new, splendid uniforms 
which only recalled my anxiety as to my own clodies 
while on my way to meet him. I expressed my reo-ret 
that I was compelled to meet him in so unceremonious a 
manner, and he replied that the only suit he had avail- 
able was one that had been sent him by some admirers 
in Baltimore, and which he then wore for the first time." 

Other circumstances in this remarkable conference 
will be related more in detail in subsequent chapters. 
After some brief chat upon previous army experiences, 
Lee almost abruptly adverted to the object of the inter- 
view. 

"I asked to see you. General Grant," he said, "to 
ascertain upon what terms you would receive the sur- 
render of my army." General Grant replied that officers 
and men must become prisoners of war, and give up all 
munitions, weapons and supplies, but that a parole would 
be accepted by releasing the men upon their binding 
themselves to ^o home and remain there until properly 
exchanged. Upon Lee's remarking that he expected 
some such terms. Grant asked, 

" Do I understand that you accept these terms, Gen- 
eral Lee?" 

"Yes," General Lee replied, "and if you will put them 
into writing I will sign them." 

General Grant sat down at the little table and wrote 

the following: 

" Appomattox Coukt-House, Virginia, | 

April 9, 1S65. ) 
" General : In accordance with the substance of my letter 10 you of 
the 8rh inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of North, 
ern Virginia on the following terms, to wit : Rolls of all the officers 
and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer 
to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or 
officers as yon may designate. The officers to give their individual 
paroles not to take up arms against the government of the United 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. 799 

States until properly exchmged ; ami each company or regimental 
commander to sign a like pjvo e for the men of their commands. The 
arms, artillery and ])uhlic piopcrty (o be parked and slacked, and 
turned over to the officers a[)pointed by me to receive liiem. Tii 3 
will not embrace the side arms of the officers, nor lluir private horses 
or baggage. This done, eacli < ffi cr and man will be allowed to 
return home, not to b.' disturbed by United Slates authority so long 
as they observe their paroles and the laws in lorce where they may 
reside. *' U. S. CjR.vnt, Lieutenant- Gencrdl.'' 

*' General R. E. Lee. 

Grant handed thi.s paper to General Lee, who read it 
carefully and remarked that the terms were magnani- 
mous and would have a good effect upon his ari7iy. He 
remarked however that the horses of the cavalry and 
artillery were the property of the men ; would they be 
allowed to retain them ? Cirant replied, that the terms 
did not allow this, but continued : 

"I believe the war is now over, and that the surrender 
of this army will be followed soon by that of the others. 
I know that the men, and indeed the whole South arc 
impoverished. I will not change the terms of the sur- 
render, but will instruct my officers who receive the 
paroles, to allow the cavalry and artillery men to retain 
their horses and take them home to work tlieir little 
farms." 

Lee again remarking tliat this cleinency would have a 
very happy effect, directed Colonel Marsliall to write his 
acceptance of the terms, which done he signed. The 
followinor is the document. 

"Headquarters Army or Northern Virginia. ) 

April 9, 1S65. ) 

" General: I received your letter rf this date containing the term 
of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by \ on. 
As they are substantially the same as thoFc expressed in yotir Ictitrr of 
the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to apj^oint the pro- 
per officers to carry them into effect. " R. E. I.ee, General. 
♦' Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant." 



800 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

While these conditions were being signed, the Union 
officers present were presented to General Lee, who 
bowed to each but did not shake hands. His final request 
was for rations for his starving men. This was promptly 
accorded and the necessary orders for distributing them 
given. Grant and Lee then shook hands, and the latter 
mounting his horse rode off to his army. The demon- 
strations of his men will be described elsewhere, by men 
who were participants in that most pathetic scene. 

Grant when returning to his own lines, saw that the 
artillery were preparing to fire salutes, and issued orders 
to stop them at once. " The war is over," he said ; " the 
rebels are our countrymen again, and the best sign of 
rejoicing after the victory, will be to abstain from all 
demonstrations in the field." This order was faithfully 
obeyed. 

Remembering that he had not yet reported the capitu- 
lation to his superiors, Grant sitting on a stone by the 
roadside wrote this dispatch on a leaf out of the note- 
book of one of his aides: 

"Appomattox Court-House, April c), 1865. 

" Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington : General 

Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on 

terms proposed by myself. The accompanying correspondence shows 

the conditions fully. 

" U. S. Grant, Lieutenant- General.'" 

It was Grant's intention to set out for Washington at 
once, leaving the details of the surrender and subsequent 
movements to his subordinates. It was found however 
that the Petersburg and Lynchburg railroad could be 
put into condition for travel in a few hours and he con- 
cluded to wait for that. Grant the next day found time 
to arrange a conference with his great antagonist. They 
met on a hillock between the lines and conversed long 
and with animation upon the great subject of the pacifi- 



I 



LEE'S ARMY SURRENDERED. 801 

cation of the country. Lee expressed the opinion that 
the war was now over and slavery was dead. The South, 
he thought, was prepared to acquiesce in this as the con- 
sequence of the triumph of the Union arms. Johnston, 
he thought, would soon surrender to Sherman, and the 
sooner all the armies were surrendered the better for the 
South. General Grant earnestly urged Lee to present 
his views to the Confederate officials and generals, so as 
to bring about the speedy pacification of the country. 

On the following day. April i 2th, the Army of Northern 
Viro"inia stood in serried ranks for the last time. Under 
the direction of the appointed commissioners they were 
marched to a spot near the Court-house, where they 
stacked their arms, laid down the colors and deposited 
their accoutrements, and then went to the provost mar- 
shal's tent for their paroles. This completed they started 
for their homes. The war, as far as Virginia was con- 
cerned, was ended. 

Grant's anxiety during the week of pursuit was intense, 
and it was not until long after the war that he declared 
how near Lee's army came to escaping w"th at least 
enough organization and material to have prolonged the 
war by joining Johnston. Speaking of this in the con- 
versation with Mr. Young above quoted Gen. Grant said: 
" My anxiety for some time before Richmond fell, was, that 
Lee should abandon it. My pursuit of Lee was hazard- 
ous and I was in a position of extreme difficulty. You 
see I was marching away from my supplies while Lee 
was falling back toward his supplies. If Lee had con- 
tinued his flight another day I should have been com- 
pelled to abandon the pursuit, fall back to Farmville, 
build the railroad and feed my army. So far as supplies 
were concerned. I «'as almost at my last gasp when the 
surrender took place." 

3 A 



CHAPTER LIX. 

THE EXPIRING GLANCES OF STRIFE. 

Gordon's story of the final days — The Federal anxiety to prevent the juncture with 
Johnston — The Confederate conference — The deep aversion to surrender — One last 
attempt — Its failure — The flag of truce — Sheridan rides into the Confederate lines — 
Gordon saves Sheridan's life — The emoiion of the Confederates at the surrender — 
Lee talks to the soldiers — His profound dejection. 

The war was in its sunset. The joining lines of the 
great armies of the North were choking out its waning 
life. The one hope for a brief continuance lay in the 
chance of a juncture with Johnston, and the well-laid 
plans of the commander of the Union forces had already 
destroyed the possibility of this. Nevertheless, the armies 
which were still playing hide and seek in the network of 
roads to the southward were not fully aware how near 
the end was. 

On the Federal side there was a desperate anxiety 
to prevent the juncture, and upon the Confederate side 
there was deep depression and little hope of escape. 
With magnificent energy General Lee was striving to 
avoid the closing cordon. Sheridan was not in direct 
communication with Grant, while Gordon was in close 
communication with Lee. To a certain extent both men 
were acting independently of the main armies, although 
their movements were in harmony with a concerted 
plan. Added to their anxiety was the doubt as to what 
was happening when, on the 7th of April, General Gor- 
don, who had been bringing up the rear ever since the 
retreat from Petersburg began, was now ordered to the 
front. Here we quote again from General Gordon's 
802 




803 



804 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

conversation, giving the thread of the narrative on the 
Confederate side to the final scene : 

"The day that Generals Lee and Grant began the 
correspondence which led up to the surrender I was 
ordered from the rear to the advance. The Federal 
army was pressing us with great vigor at all points. Its 
cavalry was harassing our Hanks, and our line of march 
was strewn with the broken debris of a dissolving army. 
Men were falling by the way-side, — killed, wounded, 
sick and starving. On the night of the 8th of April, 
General Lee called a council of war at his bivouac by the 
roadside. It was the last one he ever called. There 
were present at this conference Generals Lee, Long- 
street, Fitzhugh Lee, commanding the cavalry, and 
myself. Most of the time General Lee stood up in front 
of the blazing camp-fire, a grand figure. Longstreet sat 
on a log near by, while I reclined on General Lee's pallet 
spread under the tree. When General Fitzhugh Lee 
came up he found a seat near me, on the commander's 
blanket. 

"General Lee said that he had sent for us to read to us 
the correspondence which had taken place between him- 
self and General Grant up to that time. It was evident that 
he was discouraofed, and that he recoo-nized that we were 
in the last chapter of the struggle. He talked the situa- 
tion over in his quiet and dignified way, telling us plainly 
that while he was very averse to surrendering the troops,, 
yet that our situation was such that he could not see 
how it could be avoided. He intimated that he saw no 
prospect of success ahead and his desire now was to avoid 
any further bloodshed. It was the general impression 
of all present that there was nothing but cavalry in our 
front. We knew very well that Sheridan had thrown 
his force across our line of march. After some delibera- 



THE EXPIRING GLANCES OF STRIFE. 



805 



tion it was decided, as the last chance, that I should attack 
the enemy the next morning^, and endeavor to open the 
way for our advance. 

" In the very nature of thing^s the conference was in- 
tensely dramatic. None of us wanted to surrender. 1 o 
give up went bitterly aorainst the o^rain. We felt that it 




GENERAL lllZllUJli l.hi:.. 

was a forlorn hope, but we all wanted to make one last 
desperate effort. Surrender was one of the things that 
a soldier would always feel like putting off. The assump- 
tion was that if we could not break through the Federal 
lines it would be time enough then to consider the ques- 
tion of capitulation. 



806 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" General Lee asked me, ' Do you think you can cut 
your way through ? ' 

'" Yes,' said I ; ' I can force a passage against any num- 
ber of cavalry,- and it was generally believed that no- 
thing but cavalry was in our front.' 

" Longstreet, who was in the rear, was to follow me> 
keeping the artillery and our ammunition wagons be- 
tween us. 

" I had about eight thousand effective muskets. I do 
not remember the strengrth of General Lonestreet's force. 
He was then commanding one wing of the army and I the 
other. The plan agreed upon at the council was for us 
to move towards Lynchburg, and from thence reach a 
protected position in the mountains, from whence we 
could form a junction with Johnston. We all felt that if 
we could o^et there we could do somethingr. 

" At daylight the next morning we were advancing, and 
about six o'clock we were hotly engaged. General 
Fitzhugh Lee, with his cavalry, had been sent with me for 
this final attempt to break through the Federal lines, 
and was placed on the right. We first encountered 
Sheridan's cavalry below Appomattox Court-House, and 
fought them for an hour or two, capturing two pieces of 
artillery. L thought we were getting along well, and 
kept sending word back to Longstreet to move for- 
ward. Meanwhile the enemy were after him in the rear, 
antl he had to face about to fight, so that every step I 
took increased the distance between us. Our advance 
was proceeding so well that I was beginning to believe 
that there was a good chance of our accomplishing the 
object aimed at, but I soon found that I was mistaken. 
While I was advancinsf in line, eneaeine the enemy at 
every step, I was suddenly brought to a halt by the ap- 
pearance of tremendous bodies of infantry on both my 



THE EXPJRiyG GLANCES OF STRIFE. 807 

flanks. I at once sent word to Cieneral Lee of my dis- 
covery, and informed him that unless Longstreet came 
up any further attempt would be futile, and only involve 
an unnecessary waste of life. He replied that there was 
a flag of truce in existence between himself and (}eneral 
Grant, and that I could take my own course about noti- 
fying the officer in command of the forces in my front of 
this fact. I called an officer. Colonel Green Peyton, I 
think, my chief of staff, and said to him: 'Colonel, take 
a flag of truce and ride to the front. Find the comman- 
der, whoever he is and inform him that I have a letter 
from General Lee advising me of a flag of truce between 
General Grant and liimself. Deliver him this message 
only, and say no more.' 

'" General, w^e have no flag of truce,' he replied. 

" ' Tie your handkerchief on a stick," I said. 

" ' He answered, 'I haven't an\- handkerchief.' 

'" Well,' 1 said, ' tear your shirt.' 

'" But I have no white shirt.' he exclaimed. 

"'Well,' I said, 'then find a shirt. At any rate get 
something and go.' 

" He looked around and got something and rode away. 
A cavalry officer came back with him. and we had a 
remarkable conversation. He was a handsome fellow 
and very polite. Saluting, he said : 

" ' Is this General Gordon ? I am the bearer of Gen- 
eral Sheridan's compliments, and he demands your 
unconditional surrender.' 

"'Well, Colonel,' (or whatever I saw his rank 
was), I answered, 'you will jjlease return my compli- 
ments to General Sheridan, and say that I shall not sur- 
render.' 

"'Then.' he said, 'you will be annihilated in hall an 
hour. We have you completely surrounded." 



808 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



"'Very well, sir,' I replied. 'T am probably as well 
aware of my situation as you are, but that is my 
answer.' 




GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

You don't mean tnat ! ' he exclaimed. 

Yes I do, sir,' 1 said ; ' the onl)' thin^^^ I propose to 



THE EXPIRING GLANCES 01 STRIFE. 809 

say is what I have already said through my staff officer — 
that a flag of truce is in existence between General Lee 
and General Grant. I was not going to surrender, be- 
cause I knew it was coming. I was not going to l(;t 
Sheridan capture me in that way." 

" ' Then you will be annihilated,' he said, and rode 
away. 

"While I had been sitting there, waiting, the firing had 
almost ceased. The infantry on my tlanks had not 
changed their position much, as they had been moving 
up very slowly. I was firing artillery at the time so as 
to check them. In a few minutes, Sheridan himself came 
up with his staff". He was riding an immense black horse. 
I will never forget how he looked with his short legs 
sticking out on either side. We had very much the same 
sort of parley as had occurred between the other officer 
and myself Indeed, the language was almost a literal 
repedtion. Finally, I said to him, 'Well, General. I hardly 
think that it is worth while for us to parley. I have made 
up my mind not to surrender, and I shall accept any con- 
sequences which may follow this determination. I wish 
simply to give you the Information which was sent me by 
General Lee. All I know Is that there is a flag of truce 
in existence, and I only know the bare fact.' 

" ' Did you say that you have a letter from General 
Lee ? ' he asked. 

" ' I handed him the letter. 

" He looked over it and said : ' I suppose, then, that the 
only thing we can do is to cease firing.' 
" ' I think so,' I replied. 

'"He then said to me: Tf you will withdraw your 
forces to a certain place, I will withdraw mine, and wait 
to see what happens.' 

" We got down off our horses, and taking a seat on die 



810 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

grass, talked there for some time. In the mean time, I had 
forgotten that, early in the morning, I had detached a 
force to go back and over on the brow of a hill to pre- 
vent the cavalry from coming around between Long- 
street and myselt. While we were sitting on the grass 
I heard a roll of musketry, and looking over to where the 
force had been placed, saw them firing into some cavalry 
that had ridden down in that direction. 

" ' Hell, sir, what does this mean ? ' cried Sheridan. 
" ' I am very sorry about it,' I replied, as I explained 
the circumstances, and he and I each sent an officer over 
to the hill to stop the firing. , 

"I saved Sheridan's life that morning beyond question. 
One of my sharpshooters was a sour sort ot fellow, and 
his only idea was that when he saw a blue coat it was his 
duty to shoot at it. I had the sharpshooters around me 
when Sheridan came up with the flag of truce, and I saw 
this fellow draw his cryn. 'What do vou mean?' I 
cried, ' this is a flag of truce.' He did not pay the 
slightest attention to me and was just about firing when 
I knocked up his gun and it went off, over Sheridan's 
head, 'Let him stay on his own side. General,' he mut- 
tered. 

" General Sheridan and I sat on the ground close to 
the brick house where Lee and Grant met, and in the 
orchard. I had passed the house in the morning. We 
chaffed each other a little in the course of the conversa- 
tion. Sheridan saying: 'I believe I have had the pleasure 
of meeting you before.' I replied that we had had some 
litde acquaintance in the valley of Virginia. He turned 
tlic thread of the conversation to some guns he had re- 
ceived in the valley. Sheridan had captured nearly all of 
Early's artillery, and some more had been sent to him- 
from Richmond. Some wacf had written with chalk on 



THE EXPIRING GLANCES OE STRIFE. 811 

one of these guns : ' Rcspcctlully. consigned to Major- 
General Sheridan through General It^arly.' Sheridan 
had heard of this, and he was very much amused at ii ; 
but whether he ever saw such words upon a gun I do 
not know. When he was through with his story. I sug- 
gested that I also' had two guns which I could consign 
to him, and with the more grace because they had come 
from him that very morning. 

" Sheridan came with a full staff, and remained with me 
about an hour and a half My recollection is that we 
stayed at that place until we received information that 
Generals Lee and Grant had agreed. I heard afterwards 
that Custer had demanded Lon<Tstreet's surrender. I 
have heard from three or four different sources that 
Custer did ride between Longstreet and myself, but mv 
interview was with Sheridan. Colonel Green Peyton, 
whom I sent with the flao; of truce, now writes : 

" ' General Gordon directed me to ride forward and in- 
form General Sheridan that there was a flag of truce out 
between Generals Lee and Grant, and request a temporary 
suspension of hostilities. Not having a w^ite handkerchief, 
nor even a white shirt, to wave, I was in quite a dilemma 
until some officer, w^hose name I cannot now recall, 
pulled a towel from his haversack, and suggested going 
with me and usino- it as a flaor of truce. We soon en- 
countered a staff officer of General Custer, whose name 
I also forget, who took us in charge. We had a long 
and fruitless ride hunting for General Sheridan, but 
finally met General Custer sweeping along a country- 
road at full gallop, followed by what appeared to me a 
very large body of cavalry. He halted when he saw us, 
and demanded our errand, which I briefly told him. 
" Nothing but unconditional surrender." he e.xclaimeil ; 
"I am now about to surround your army." I modcstl> 



812 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



replied that that was a matter in the hands of Generals 
Lee and Grant ; all I wished was a suspension of hostili- 
ties until the question was settled. " Nothing but uncon- 
ditional surrender," he again exclaimed, put spurs to his 
horse, and that was the last 1 ever saw of Custer. There 
being nothing else to do, I returned to General Gordon. 
In the mean time General Sheridan had become aware of 
the state of affairs, and when I got back to Gordon I 
found him there with a large body of staff officers, etc., 
all mingling and talking very pleasantly." 




THE McLean house. 
" General Gordon continues : ' After awhile General 
Lee sent for General Longstreet and myself,,and told us 
of the agreement to surrender. He named three of us to 
meet at the McLean house, three officers to be appointed 
by General Grant, we six to agree upon the details. It had 
been generally arranged between Generals Grant and Lee, 
and the understanding had been reached that the officers 
were to keep their side-arms, but the routine had not 
yet been decided upon. Longstreet. Pendleton and my- 



THE EXPIRING GLAXCES OE STRIFE. «l:: 

self were appointed for the Confederate side, and I 
remember Gibbon on the Federal side because he was 
a North Carolina man. We met at the McLean house 
and proceeded to business. The Federals had cham- 
pagne and plenty to eat, things which we had not seen 
for a lonof time. The most striking feature of the sur- 
render to me, excepting only the deep sorrow which 
we felt at the failure, was the behavior of the Federal 
troops. I shall never cease thinking and talking about 
it. Ihe general disposition was to fraternize, and it was 
difficult to keep the opposing soldiers apart. There was 
great distress among our men, and there was hardly a 
dry eye. Men hid their flags in their bosoms. But. be- 
yond the patriotic emotion which the Federal soldiers 
naturally felt but never showed, and the deep humiliation 
of the Confederates, the men seemed to wish to mingle 
with and talk to each other. The thing which touched 
my heart very much at the time was the action of the 
Union soldiers in opening their haversacks and dividing 
their radons with the defeated. This was done inde- 
pendently of the order of General (irant to feed our 
men. After we had agreed to all the terms, the success- 
ful commander came to the McLean house, but he had 
very litde to say. We wrote out the form of parole, 
and designated the place where the men were to stack 
their arms. 

" I had never seen General Grant until that morning. 
What impressed me most was his modest demeanor. 
There was nothing in the expression of his face or in his 
language or general bearing which indicated exultation 
at the oreat victory he had won. He had no unilorm on. 
and sat quietly, never saying much, but very kind. ver\' 
o-ende and very unobtrusive. These characteristics I 
noted in him often afterwards. For a man who reached 




.^14 



LEI-: SURRENDERING TO GENERAL GRANT. 



THE EXPIRING GLANCES OF ST RUE. XI") 

such an altitude ot civil and military renown his manner 
was charmingly simple. 

" It was a bright April day when we attempted to cut 
through. I had been moving before daylight, but the 
day was just breaking when 1 struck the temporary 
breastworks where the two pieces of artillery which 
went back to Sheridan were captured. I ran over the 
breastworks in my first charge. The last stroke of the 
war was that morning assault. It wound up the contlict 
so far as our army was concerned. 

" I rode with General Lee from the McLean house 
back to his headquarters immediately after the men had 
been drawn up to surrender their arms. 'I hey had 
stacked their guns for the last time, and General Lee 
was profoundly dejected. After a time of silence he said 
sadly : ' It would have been better if I had fallen in one 
of the last ficrhts. I could wish that I had.' 

'"You should not feel that way, General,' I expostu- 
lated. 

•" ' But that is my feeling,' he said. 

•' 'The country will sustain you in what you have done,' 
I said, but he shook his head and replied that the army 
would, but that the country would think that he should 
have done better. He believed that the terms of sur- 
render were all that could be asked, and added that 
there was nothing: for us to do now but to return and 
rebuild our homes. It never occurred to me at the time 
that Grant came to the surrender without side-arms to 
emphasize the fact that he came to offer peace to his 
countrymen. I supposed it was true that he was not in 
the habit of wearing side-arms, and that, in the rush 
of events and the great pressure upon his time, he 
had no disposidon to appear in the garb of a conqueror. 
General Lee, on the contrary, out of respect to the dig- 



«in LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

nity of the occasion, had dressed himself in his best uni- 
form." 

Colonel T. H. Carter, who was Gordon's chief of 
artillery, tells this incident of the day : " When General 
Lee returned from his interview with General Grant, and 
all was over, the men, who had stacked arms and parked 
the cannon in a field to the east of the Court-House, 
crowded to the road along which he was riding and 
cheered him again and again. Finally, he dismounted 
from his horse and, with his eyes swimming in tears, said 
in substance : ' I have done what I thought best and be- 
lieved to be right. Go to your homes and conduct your- 
selves as good citizens and you will not be molested.' 

" Old men wept like children and sobbed in an agony 
of grief. I tell you this because there was a report at the 
time that the cheerino- at Lee on his return from his in- 
terview with General Grant was supposed to be the 
rejoicing of the Army of Northern Virginia at the sur- 
render. Nothing could be further from the truth. It 
would have been an ungenerous demonstration to say 
the least and they were not guilty of it. The remnant 
of Lee's army had even thrown away their ver}' blankets 
and clothes to carry their muskets and ammunition, and 
but for their starv^ed and wearied condition were un- 
surpassed by any troops in the world, and could be 
relied upon to do anything that flesh and blood could 
accomplish." 

There are in these graphic recitals of the final hours 
of our civil strife the saddest of pictures in all the 
tragedy of war ; yet, they have their lights as well 
as shades. Never before in the history of conflict 
had surrendering soldiers been treated with such gen- 
erosity by the victors. Nor was it a conventional gen- 
erosity. It was genuinely felt from the commander to 



THE EXPIRING GLANCES OE STRIEK. S17 

the private. The action of the men in dividing the con- 
tents of their haversacks with those who, but an hour 
before, had been bitter foes was a great paradox which 
could not have belonged to any but such a conflict in 
such a country. The first liand that was stretched out 
in the dawn of the new nationality contained succor and 
comfort. 

On the morning of the 9th of April, while General 
Gordon was making the last forlorn attempt to break 
through Grant's lines, General Lee and General Long- 
street \vere together. When the information was 
brought to them that Gordon was enveloped in a cloud 
of infantry, as well as cavalry, they parted — General 
Lee to find General Grant and agree upon terms of 
capitulation, and General Longstreet to command the 
army until his return. Writing of the events of this 
April morning after this long lapse of years, General 
Longstreet says : 

" General Lee, upon starting to see General Grant at 
Appomattox, left me in charge, and forgot to inform 
General Gordon, who was in our advance, of his move- 
ments and purpose. Before passing to the rear of my 
line, where he supposed General Grant to be, he sent a 
message to me informing me that he had failed to give 
notice to General Gordon, and asking me to send him 
notice. Upon receiving this notice General Gordon 
sent my staff officer forward to communicate the order 
for the firing to cease. This, I believe, was the first flag 
of truce, and was borne by an officer of my staff, though 
actually sent by General Gordon. 

" General Lee, on reaching my rear, sent his flag back 
with a communication to General Grant. In reply he 
was informed by General Meade that General Grant 
had left him and crone around to the front. So General 

3B 



818 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Lee had to ride back to the front. Passing back he 
called me to ride with him. He was, of course, deisply 
impressed by the situation, not to say grieved, and our 
conversation partook of the feelings of our hearts in 
ejaculations rather than conversation. Arriving at our 
front line we dismounted to relieve our horses, whilst he 
sent his flag forward to meet General Grant. About 
forty feet from the point where we stood, whilst awaiting 
tlie return of his flag, there was an apple-tree, one of 
the remnants of an old orchard. Whilst waiting Gen- 
eral Lee turned to me and said that he felt apprehen- 
sive that General Grant might be inclined to be severe 
in his terms, after his having refused the day previous 
to meet his (Grant's) summons for surrender. I replied 
that I knew General Grant well enough to assure him 
that he would act in this matter just as he (Lee) would 
act under similar circumstances. That he would act as 
his duty demanded, but would go no further. 

" General Lee was disposed to dwell upon the point 
of his first refusal to listen to terms as likely to provoke 
harsh feelings and severe conditions. After reassuring 
him as well as I could on this point, I said, ' If you find 
Grant inclined to be unreasonable and determined to 
humiliate us, tell him that we reject all terms and will 
make our last effort as honorable as possible.' 

" I think that these were the last words that passed 
between us up to his mounting and riding up the hill, 
with one or two of his staff, to the court-house. Upon 
his return he seemed satisfied as one could be under the 
circumstances, and directed me to prepare to meet the 
commissioners, who were to be appointed to draw and 
arrange the terms of capitulation.'' 



CHAPTER LX. 

THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 

General Grant's indifiierence to entering Richmond — Difference between him and 
other commanders — His interview with the Secretary of War — Goes to Washing- 
ton — Assassination of Lincoln — Recalled to the Capital — Sherman's Protocol — 
Grant's interview with Stanton — Admiral Ammen's recollections — Grant's Delicacy 
towards Sherman — The war ended. 

Richmond was the chief prize of the war. For four 
years the Confederate capital had stood, a menace 
to American nationahty. MilHons of money and 
thousands of hves had been spent in the efforts of 
Union commanders to reach and subdue it. From the 
earhest days of the bitter conflict the cry of the North 
had been, " On to Richmond." It was the centre of the 
Confederacy, and there was a passionate longing that it 
should be grasped and crushed. To the popular mind 
Vicksbure was an incidental ; Atlanta was but a momen- 
tary encouragement ; Gettysburg was merely a desperate 
trial of desperate forces, in which the Federal army had 
been victorious. None of these seemed decisive. After 
the first flush of rejoicing, when the tidings of victory 
came in, the eyes of the North would again turn with 
terrible fascination to the Old Dominion city, where the 
chief of the Southern armies and the chief of the Federal 
armies were fighting their desperate duel to the death. 

Of course, the strategic value of the place was greatly 
overestimated. It was clothed in importance which did 
not belong to it. Yet public sentiment, on both sides 
had decided that it was the pivotal point of the conflict, 
and this sentiment could not be argued down. In the 

o 

South, the determination was to protect it at all hazards. 

(819) 



820 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

In the North, the determination was to take it at all 
hazards. And so it came about that the first public 
misconception g-rew less as the war advanced. Each 
section, feelintr that the tall of Richmond would be 
the fall of the Confederac\-, concentrated its greatest 
numbers at the now vital point, and when it was wrested i 
from the South, the feeling was general and strong that 
the rebellion had ended. In all ages and in all wars, 
this fictitious importance has been attached to the seat 
of government. To a conquering commander the cap- 
sheaf of his triumph is to march through the streets 
of the city upon which all eyes had been bent with 
anxiety and apprehension. 

General Grant did not do so. He delegated the 
occupation of Richmond to a subordinate, just as he 
would have delegated any other minor authority, and 
General Weitzel entered the Confederate capital on 
the },(S. of April six days before Lee surrendered, 
while Grant was pursuing his adversary. He seemed 
to have no curiosity to see the city whose capitulation 
had been the object of his best efforts during a 
year of battle and bloodshed. No thought of posing 
as a victor entered his mind. He was moved by no 
hunger for self-glorification. He had no aspirations for 
a florid and pictorial triumph. His well-balanced nature 
recognized only that a great duty had been done, and 
his eyes turned naturall)- to tht- work which was still left 
for him. 

There is probably no parallel to this in the life of any 
great commander. The entrance to a city which has 
fallen after a long siege seems to round u]) the stoiT ot 
the investment. To ride down the conquered streets, 
with drums ])t'ating and flags flying, while the sullen- 
eyed inhabitants look on with humiliation and dread. 



THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 821 

seems to be the natural apotheosis of a successful siege. 
But General Grant had neither thoug'ht nor inclination 
for these ornamentals of triumph. After Appomattox, 
he hastened to the national capital, and never, in his 
after life, did he visit this dead heart of the Confederacy, 

His one recollection of its appearance was confined to 
the frownin^^ fortifications which had surrounded it, and 
which he had subdued. In after vears, General Grant, 
in speaking of this, said that he did not enter Richmond 
because Mr. Lincoln had ofone there, and there was no 
need for him. It was his duty to go on until Lee sur- 
rendered, and then to Washington, stop recruiting, and 
retrench the expenses of the war, which, at the moment 
of the surrender, were taxing the resources of the Gov- 
ernment at the rate of four million dollars a day. His 
plain, simple mind saw only the practical necessities of 
the time. 

On the 1 2th of April, Grant had his memorable 
interview with the President and the Secretar)- of W^ar, 
in which tlie details which were to take the arm\- from 
its war footing were arranged. The day following the 
announcement was made, which, in twenty-four hours, 
w^as to remove all restrictions from commerce, and stop 
the recruiting of soldiers and the purchase of supplies. 
These were the first definite steps towards peace. The 
same day, with his wife, the victorious General hastened 
to Burlington, X. J., where his children were at school. 
His tender solicitude for his family saved his lifeT 

That night the ominous report of John Wilkes Booth's 
pistol sounded in Ford's Theatre. There was a sudden 
bustle and a quick hurrying of feet. The dazed eyes 
of the audience saw a lithe figure spring upon the stage 
from the President's box, gesticulate grandiloquently 
and disappear. Then the truth hissed its way into the 




(822) 



THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 823 

ears of the bewildered people. In the hour of triumph, 
when the republic was gathering up the broken threads 
of its unity, when the cannon were booming their 
boasts and the flags were rippling their exultation, when 
the lost cause was lost indeed, and the union that had 
been born nearly a century before had vindicated its 
right to live, the bullet of a maniac struck down the 
great, warm-hearted, tender man who had been raised 
by the times and for the times on the Western frontier, 
to be the great civil leader in the hour of the repub- 
lic's peril. After the weary trials, and doubts, and 
anxieties of the war had ended, when the problem of a 
century had just been solved, when the republic had 
established the great truth that the idea which inspired 
it was greater than any section or any institution, irre- 
sponsible assassination snatched the cup of fulfillment 
from Lincoln's lips, and his blood climaxed the terrible 
carnage of the civil strife. Death, that had claimed so 
much, claimed him too, and from a vivid figure in the 
hurry of events, he passed into a majestic memory. At 
once the tear-dimmed eyes of the nation were turned 
to Grant. 

The excitement and apprehension were profound. 
The Lieutenant-General, who had escaped assassination 
by his absence, was instantly telegraphed for, and he 
hastened back to the Capital. That day was the darkest 
of his life. In his own vivid language, the rebellion 
which had been put down in the field seemed to be 
starting anew in the gutters. The act was so incompre- 
hensible. There was nothing to be gained and much to 
be lost if this sneakingf fio-ure of murder were to become 
the substitute for the manly front of war. It was a piti- 
ful effort to reach the melo-dramatic, which had neither 
cause nor courage behind it. It was cowardice shooting 



THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 825 

down an unarmed man, and for^-ing die name of patriot- 
ism for a palliation. It is to the honor of America, that 
it can be said that the shot sounded as harshly in the 
ears of the South as it did in those of the North. The 
South had fought for disunion, but it had contended 
openly and boldly. It had not disguised its sentiments, 
and it had won its spurs of manliness in defending them. 
It would not round up four years of war with a moment 
of assassination. 

The hours after the tragedy, while the great life was 
ebbing away, were sombre and disturbed ones. There 
were rumors of conspiracies, and disorder, and murder. 
Instinctively the republic turned towards the great mili- 
tary leader, who had been Lincoln's right hand. He 
seemed to be the sturdiest oak in that forest of storm. 
Thus, in the most sorrowful mood that had ever wrapped 
his mind in gloom. General Grant re-entered Washing- 
ton. And when it was known that he was there, the 
nation drew a long breath of relief, and with sad eyes 
turned again to the work which was before it. 

The impression which the sudden death of President 
Lincoln made upon General Grant was probably the 
deeper because of a reason of which he was not entirely 
conscious. Both were from the West. The rugged 
vigor of the frontier was in their sinews. They had the 
practical force which becomes a part of men in the rough 
country which has no illusions. To an extent the same 
conditions had formed them. Emergencies had devel- 
oped them both. Each had grown strangely and strongly 
to the stature of new and mighty demands. Each was a 
splendid vindication of the opportunities of Ameri- 
can citizenship. All through the war there seemed 
to be an occult understanding between them. When 
the North clamored for Grant's removal, Lincoln 



826 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

answered : " I rather like the man. I think I will try 
him a little longer." And as Grant progressed, Lin- 
coln's faith in him grew. He supported him in every 
way he could. When there were murmurs at the appa- 
rent delays in the military movements which seemed 
interminable, the President would speak words of en- 
couragement and revive the sinking national spirit. He 
was the civil leader, supporting with his strong influence 
the military chief of the republic. This made the 
bond between them. Stranger than all is the fact that 
these two citizens of one State did not meet until 1864, 
and then by one of those curious incidents only possible 
in American life, one was Lieutenant-General of the 
armies and the other was President of the United States. 
It is little wonder that the death of Lincoln affected 
Grant so deeply. 

The final surrenders of the detached forces of the 
Confederacy were yet to be received. Sherman and 
Johnston were still playing hide and seek through the pine 
woods of North Carolina, and Wilson was makinor his 
famous raid, which resulted in the capture of Jeff Davis. 
Grant rested but little. He was watching the military 
operations, while, at the same time, being a central 
figure in the chaos that lifted Andrew Johnson into the 
Presidential chair. 

As early as the 5th of April Grant had put Sher- 
man on his guard in relation to Lee's attempt to join 
Johnston, and Sherman was even more active than ever. 
On the night of the iith, he received Grant's despatch 
announcing Lee's surrender at Appomattox. On the 
1 2th he announced it to his army, and the men, who had 
marched more than four hundred miles through a hostile 
territory, gave themselves up to rejoicing. Sherman 
immediately prepared an order detailing the movements 



THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 



827 



of his command, and made ready to strike Johnston a 
final blow. Of this there was no need, for on the 14th 
Johnston sent him a communication asking a temporary 




ANDREW lOHNSON. 



suspension of hostilities to "permit the civil authorities 
to enter into the needful arrano-ements to terminate the 



828 LIFE Of' GENERAL GRANT. 

existing war." Sherman replied that he was fully 
empowered to make terms, and proposed, as a basis of 
negotiations, Grant's terms to Lee. On the i6th, 
Johnston replied that he would meet him the next day 
at a point midway between his advance at Durham 
and Johnston's rear at Hillsboro. On the morning of 
the 17th of April Sherman ordered a locomotive and 
car to convey him to Durham. 

This April day was filled witli mighty events for the 
great soldier whose life for four )ears had been crowded 
with dramatic situations. brom his breakfast-table, 
which he left full of joy that the war was so near at an 
end, he went to the train. Just as he was about to get 
on, he was met by the telegraph operator, who handed 
him a dispatch, in cipher, announcing the assassination 
of Lincoln and the attempts upon the lives of Seward 
and other men high in the national councils. In that 
time of consternation and confusion, the wildest rumors 
were sent out as fact, and the Nortli was absolutely 
bewildered as to what might come next. How much 
more apprehension, then, for the future must have been 
felt by Sherman, cut oft. as he was, from immediate 
communication, and with but a skeleton of statement to 
clothe with the probabilities which suggested them- 
selves. He saw instantlv what an effect such a messaije, 
coming at such a time, might have upon the army, and 
the operator was imperatively directed not to furnish 
the dreadful tidings to any one. He did not even tell 
his personal staff of the tragedy. 

So the train pulled out to^va^ds the meeting with 
Johnston, and the officers who accomjianied the com- 
mander laughed and jested, light-hearted at the culmi- 
nation of all tlieir hardships, so soon to come. They 
did not knew that it carried with it also a terrible secret, 



THK CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 829 

and that, beside the white tlag of truce which waved 
from the car, there Hoated another, black and spectral 
and sombre with foreboding^. It was a strange blend- 
ing- of triumph and tragedy. 

When the train stopped General Sherman w^as met 
by the Confederate cavalry, who were there to escort 
him to the meeting place. They went forward, and 
soon the word was passed along that General Johnston 
was coming. The men fell back and the two great 
rivals met and shook hands. Then they rode away 
together to the Bennet house, w'here the terms of sur- 
render were to be agreed upon. 

As soon as they were secluded General Sherman 
showed Johnston the dispatch he had received from 
Washington. Oddly as it may seem, the first one to 
whom he gave the message was the man against whom 
he had been fighdng for so long a time. The effect was 
electric. Beads of perspiration stood out upon John- 
ston's brow and he looked inexpressibly shocked. He 
saw in an instant how disastrous the assassination might 
prove to the South, He felt that it would arouse 
Northern sendment to a dangerous pitch and that there 
might be broad and indiscriminate reprisal. He ex- 
pressed himself freely upon the act and denounced it as 
a disgrace to the age, and said he hoped that General 
Sherman did not hold the Confederacy responsible for 
it. He evidently felt very deeply on the subject 

The question of terms was then discussed. General 
Sherman urged Johnston to capitulate, and told him that 
it would be folly to fight any longer. Johnston con- 
ceded this, but he wished to arrange terms for the sur- 
render of all the Confederate armies still in the 
field. It was his belief that he could get authority 
which would enable him to do so. Sherman insisted 




(830) 



THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 831 

that he should accept the terms which Grant had 
given Lee; but while Johnston acknowledged that they 
were fair enough, he asked for time to communicate 
with his government for the purpose of ending the war. 
Finally a delay of one day was given. 

That evening Sherman discussed the matter with his 
general officers, and they agreed that some conclusion 
should be reached. The next day Sherman and John- 
ston again met. Breckinridge was present, and John- 
ston stated that he had received the authority to 
surrender all the armies, but that the troops felt very 
uneasy about their political rights. Finally, after a long 
discussion, Sherman, with a conversation he had had 
with Lincoln in his mind, wrote out a pretty broad 
protocol which virtually guaranteed the Confederates 
their political rights. The protocol was sent to Wash- 
ington for approval and an armistice arranged until an 
answer could be obtained from the capital. 

General Sherman, very recently, in speaking to the 
writer of this important meeting, said : 

" I had in my mind constantly during this interview, 
my conversation with Mr. Lincoln, in March, at City 
Point. I explained to General Johnston that it was the 
desire of the Government that the men in arms who sur- 
rendered should be got home and at work as soon as 
possible. That there was no desire to be harsh even 
Avith the political leaders of the Confederacy. Recalling 
INIr. Lincoln's story which he told me to illustrate his ' 
position in relation to Jeff Davis and others, I said : 

" ' General, I feel justified in saying that if Jeff Davis 
can escape to Charleston I will charter a steamer to 
send him to Nassau.' 

" Turnino- then to General Breckinridee, I said : 

" T will not be responsible for you if you remain. 



832 LfFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

You were the X'ice-President and declared Mr. Lincoln 
didy elected. The State of Kentucky did not secede. 
Yet you cast ) our fortunes with the Confederacy. You 
have not tlie merit of consistency to shield )ou in your 
course.' 

" General Breckinridge replied that he would give us 
no trouble, and would find his way out of our reach 
without help. He was as good as his word. He left 
the country and did not return for .several years." 

As soon as the protocol reached Grant, he saw that 
the terms which .Sherman had made could not be agreed 
to. He sent the paper to the Secretary of War and 
urged upon him to have a cabinet meeting called at once 
to discuss the matter. This was done. The meetingr 
was a very important one, and the protocol was rejected, 
and the resumption of hostilities ordered immediatel)-. 

General Grant, recognizing the fact that Sherman had 
only committed an apparent erfor of judgment, at once 
came generously to the rescue of his subordinate. He 
met the .Secretary of War after he had been ordered to 
go tc Sherman's army and in person assume direction of 
the military operations there. The Secretary was very 
angr)' and very unreasonable. Rut General Grant's 
language after leaving Mr. Stanton is the best inde.x 
to what transpired. Admiral Ammen, in speaking of 
it, says : 

• He told me of his meeting with the Secretary, and 
said : ' Ammen, absurd as it may seem to you and to 
me, the Secretary' of War absolutely believes that Gen- 
eral Sherman and General Johnston have entered into 
an agreement that seriously menaces the ci\il authorit)- 
of this government.' 

" He was then just going down, in oliedience to the 
orders of President Johnson, to Sherman's headquarters 



THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 833 

In North Carolina. In the short time we liad for con- 
versation he spoke to me freely upon the subject of 
Sherman's protocol and his disapproval of Stanton's 
manner and suspicions. From what he said to me I 
feel sure in saying that he regarded General Sherman's 
action as a more pronounced type of his own terms to 
Lee — terms intended only to assure the soldiers of the 
South who surrendered that they could return home 
and till their fields in all confidence. He was very much 
in earnest that General Sherman should not be mis- 
understood, either by the Secretary of War or the peo- 
ple of the United States. 

" From his conversation I felt assured that he re- 
garded the liberal terms given by General Sherman 
only as an earnest of the good intentions and kind 
feeling of the government and the people of the North 
towards those whom they had conquered. Sherman 
was accepting the surrender of all the Confederate 
forces then in arms. He had absorbed his views 
of the policy of the Government towards the surren- 
dered forces from President Lincoln, in their interview 
at City Point in March. The modification of this, which 
was communicated to General Grant had not been sent 
to Sherman. He therefore proceeded upon the original 
understanding between the President, General Grant 
and himself, and made the broader terms, which em- 
braced all the Confederate soldiers then in arms. 

" He had also been misled by General Weitzel's order 

reconveninof the Vircjinia Lecjislature and restorincr its 

State government, which he did not know at the time 

had been disapproved, and the magnanimous terms Grant 

had accorded to Lee. This, I am certain, was General 

Grant's view of Sherman's action, while Stanton was 

fretting and fuming and making charges against Sher- 
3C 



834 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

man, which Grant did not hesitate to denounce as 
infamous," 

Grant hastened to Raleigh and told Sherman as deli- 
cately as he could that he could only treat for the sur- 
render of the army and had no authority to arrange 
matters which belonged to the civil authorities. Gen- 
eral Sherman at once notified General Johnston of this, 
and the Confederate commander succumbed to the 
inevitable, and, on the 26th of April, surrendered his 
entire army. 

Grant's course throughout was that of a generous 
friend. Althoueh all the orders issued after his arrival 
had to go to him for approval, Sherman still continued 
in command. And, when the surrender was made, 
Grant telegraphed to Washington that Johnston had 
" surrendered to Sherman." At the time Johnston had 
no idea that Grant was in the vicinity, as he had kept 
himself secluded and done nothing whatever to show 
his disapproval of Sherman's course. Whether the 
protocol was too fat or too lean we will not discuss here, 
but that it was made in accordance with an understand- 
ing previously had with Mr. Lincoln, does not admit of 
doubt. 

The two main armies having surrendered, the scat- 
tering detached commands this side of the Mississippi 
soon accepted the terms and laid down their arms. The 
President of the Confederacy was shortly thereafter 
captured. The Confederates west of the Mississippi 
also gave up the now hopeless revolt. One of the odd 
coincidences of the rebellion was the fact that General 
Buckner, whose surrender at Donelson had been Gen- 
eral Grant's first great victor}', fought the last battle of 
the war. 

The war was ended. There only remained to the 



THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR. 835 

North the duty of disbanding the great armies. They 
had sprung from the peaceful walks of citizenship. The 
soldiers were to fade back again to material pursuits. 
The muskets which they had carried for four years were 
to be laid down. The single mass was to break into 
thousands of individualities. There was joy all over the 
restored Union at the happy conclusion. 

The armies of Meade and Sherman were called to 
Washington, and there, in magnificent pageant, they 
marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to be reviewed by 
the President and the Secretary of War, It was a 
touching and magnificent sight. The shot-torn flags, 
telling in their tatters the mute story of many a hard 
battle, floated over the long lines of dusty veterans. 
Men who had gone out from shop and office were 
bronzed and burned. The lines of privation were in 
their faces. They had the swinging step born of many 
a weary m.arch. Yet the recollection of all that had 
been endured was lost in the joy of the home-coming. 
They had marched away when the fate of the Republic 
was in doubt and darkness. They were returning to 
a Union which their courage had saved. They had con- 
quered a great peace, and its fruits and its glories were to 
be theirs and their children's for long years. 

There was one incident of the day that was character- 
istic. As General Sherman, at the head of his column, 
rode up and took his place on the grand stand, where 
the President and the Secretary of War were standing, 
Sherman saluted the President and deliberately ignored 
the Secretary. Stanton's harsh proclamation was still 
fresh in his mind, and he resented the insult by putting 
an affront upon the Secretary in the presence of the 
army. 

*' I wanted to show my army that there was one man 



836 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in the countiy who was not afraid of Mr, Stanton," he 
explained very recently, speaking to the writer of this 
incident. " Naturally I was indignant at the manner in 
which Mr, Stanton had spoken of my terms to Johnston. 
But after I had preserved my self-respect before those 
splendid troops who had marched with me from Chatta- 
nooga to Washington, I renewed my relations with the 
Secretary- and never had any after-feeling about it." 

It is perhaps well to record here that President John- 
son denied all knowledge of the publication in relation 
to General Sherman's terms which ]\Ir. Stanton gave to 
the public, until he saw it in print. He said to many 
persons that he never affixed his signature to the procla- 
mation which expressed disapproval of Sherman's action. 
It was done without his authority, although he did object 
to his protocol. 

For two days the review w^as continued, and then the 
veterans again became private citizens and returned to the 
avocations which they had left at the call of their countiy. 
The complete manner in which the army was at once 
blent and lost in the quieter ways of peaceful life was 
striking evidence of the splendid qualities of our citizen- 
ship. There is no other instance of the kind in history. 



b 



CHAPTER LXI. 

THE MEXICAN PERIL. 

Tlie Frencli attempt to establish a Mexican Empire — Grant's vigorous objections — 
His letter to Johnson on the subject — Admiral Ammen's recollections of the situa- 
tion — A querj' as to the strength of the navy — Seward's energetic note — Sheridan 
sent to the Southwest — The French evacuate Mexican soil — A war with France 
averted. 

General Grant had always been deeply impressed 
with the danger of the attempt to establish Maximilian 
in the Republic to the South of us. The French were 
still attempting their effort at an abortive empire in 
Mexico, and many of the reckless and irresponsible 
in the Confederate army had crossed the line. The 
establishment of a monarchical power so near us and so 
inimical to our institutions would present a constant 
menace to the republic, and General Grant's quick eye 
had measured all the possibilities of danger. So deeply 
did the situation impress itself upon his mind that he 
addressed the following letter to President Johnson : 

"Washington, June rgth, 1865. 

**His Excellency, A. Johnson, 

" President of the United States: — 

"The great interest which I feel in securing an honorable and 
permanent peace whilst we still have in service a force sufficient to 
insure it, and the danger and disgrace which, in my judgment, 
threaten us unless positive and early measures are taken to avert 
it, induces me to lay my views before you in an official form. 

"In the first place, I regard the act of attempting to establish a 
monarchical go\ernment on this continent in Mexico, by foreign 
bayonets, as an act of hostility against the Government of the 
United States. If allowed to go on until such a government is 
established, I see nothing before us but a long, expensive, and 

(837) 



838 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

bloody war ; one in which the enemies of this countrv^ will be joined 
by tens of thousands of disciplined soldiers, embittered against their 
government by the experience of the last four years. 

"As a justification for open resistance to the establishment of 
Maximilian's Government in Mexico, I would give the following 
reasons : 

''First. — The act of attempting to establish a monarchy on this 
continent was an act of known hostility to the Government of the 
United 'States ; was protested against at the time, and would not 
have been undertaken but for the great war which was raging, and 
which it was supposed by all the great powers of Europe, except, 
possibly, Russia, would result in the dismemberment of the country 
and the overthrow of Republican institutions. 

''Second. — Every act of the Empire of Maximilian has been 
hostile to the Government of the United States. Matamoras and 
the -whole Rio Grande, under his control, has been an open port to 
those in rebellion against this Government. It is notorious, that 
every article held by the rebels for export was permitted to cross 
the Rio Grande, and from there go unmolested to all parts of the 
world ; and they, in return, to receive, in pay, all articles, arms, 
munitions of war, etc., they desired. Rebels, in arms, have been 
allowed to take refuge on Mexican soil, protected by French 
bayonets. French soldiers have fired on our men from the south 
side of the river in aid of the rebellion. Officers acting under the 
authority of the would-be Empire, have received arms, munitions, 
and other public property from the rebels after the same has become 
the property of the United States. It is now reported, and I think 
there is no doubt of the truth of the report, that large, organized, 
and armed bodies of rebels have gone to Mexico to join the 
Imperialists. 

"It is further reported, and too late Ave will find the report con- 
firmed, that a contract or agreement has been entered into with 
Duke Gwin, a traitor to his country, to invite into Mexico anned 
immigrants for the purpose of wrenching from the rightful govern- 
ment of that country States ne\er controlled by the Imperialists. 
It will not do to remain quiet and theorize that by showing a strict 
neutrality all foreign force will be compelled to leave Mexican soil. 
Rebel immigrants to Mexico will go with arms in their hands. 
They will not be a burden uj)on the States, but, on the contrary, will 
become producers, always ready, when emergency arises, to take 
up their arms in defense of the cause they espouse. 



THE MEXICAN PERIL. 839 

" That their leaders will espouse the cause of the Empire, purely 
out of hostility to this Government, I feel there is no doubt. 
There is a hope that the rank and file may take the opposite side 
if any influence is allowed to work upon their reason ; but if a 
neutrality is to be observed, which allows armed rebels to go to 
Mexico, and which keeps out all other immigrants, and which, 
also denies to the Liberals of Mexico belligerent rights— the right to 
buy'arms and munitions in foreign markets and to transport them 
through friendly territory to their homes, I see no chance for such 
influence to be brought to bear. 

''What I would propose would be a solemn protest against the 
establishment of a monarchical government in Mexico by the aid of 
foreign bayonets. If the French have a just claim against Mexico, 
I would regard them as having triumphed, and would guarantee 
them suitable award for their grievances. Mexico would, no doubt, 
admit their claim if it did not aff-ect their territory or rights as a 
free people The United States could take such pledges as would 
secure her against loss. How all this could be done without 
bringing on an armed conflict, others who have studied such 
matters could tell better than I. , 

"If this course cannot be agreed upon, then I would recognize 
equal belligerent rights to both parties. I would interpose no 
obstacle to the passage into Mexico of emigrants to that country 
I would allow either party to buy arms or anything we have to sell 
and interpose no obstacle to their transit. 

"These views have been hastily drawn up, and contain but 
little of what might be said on the subject treated of. If, however, 
they serve to bring the matter under discussion, they will have 
accomplished all that is desired. ^^^ ^ GRANT, 

' ' L ieutenant General. 

Thus, almost immediately, he displayed his power to 
grasp civil questions. He fully appreciated the relation 
which a foreign monarchical institution so established 
would have to this countr>', and he showed breadth of 
judgment and keen foresight in his reasons for objec- 
tiom But the government was not heartily in sympathy 
with him. It did not see the danger as clearly as he did, 
and its action upon the subject was not, at the first, char- 



840 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



acterlzed by the force and vigor which he thought were 
necessary. Grant saw the necessity for acting before 
the army was disbanded, and he constantly impressed 
this upon a dilatory administration. 

It is difficult to unravel the meshes of cabinet dis- 
cussions and to pass beyond the secrecy that is ever 
thrown around the consultations inside the President's 
political household. Therefore it is probable that Gen- 
eral Grant's controversies with Andrew Johnson and 

his cabinet will 
never be fully re- 
vealed. They can 
only be made up 
from circumstances 
and whatever ac- 
tors in the scenes 
may have said to 
friends. The Mex- 
ican question, which 
General Grant be- 
gan to press upon 
the President's at- 
tention almost im- 
mediately after the 
restoration of 
peace, constantly 
gave him more or 
less dit^hcult)^ He 
induced the President to act in a half-hearted sort of a way 
upon the letter herein presented upon that subject but it 
must be remembered that Mr. Seward was then at the 
head of the State Department. He was jealous of every 
encroachment upon his domain, fully aware of his powers 
of State craft and ever anxious and ready to use them. 




HON. W. H. SEW.^RD. 



THE MEXICAN PERIL. 841 

Therefore General Grant's desire to deal sternly with 
the French in Mexico was very much curbed by Mr. 
Seward's position. As soon as he had written the letter 
to the President, he sent to the Southwest a strong force 
under Sheridan, numbering something like 70,000 men, . 
ostensibly after Kirby Smith, but really for the investment 
of the Mexican border. He wanted it to be ready to 
strike in behalf of the liberals of Mexico at the first occa- 
sion. General Grant's attitude towards Mexico, and the 
presence of this force, gave fresh heart to the Juarez 
government, and the action he pressed upon the State 
Department induced a note to be sent to the French 
Emperor, protesting against the establishment of a for- 
eign eovernment on this continent. 

The emperor had appointed a day for the evacuation 
of Mexico, but, when the time arrived, no movement 
was made, and General Grant became very much irri- 
tated at the delay and began considering in his mind 
new plans for forcing the imperialists to leave the 
country to the south of us. Rear Admiral Daniel 
Ammen thus pictures the situation at this moment: 

" One morning, just after the French had failed to 
evacuate Mexico in accordance with their promise, I was 
with General Grant, when the subject came up for dis- 
cussion. He seemed to feel very earnesdy about it, and, 
after stating some points, he turned to me and said : 

" ' What do you think of the strength of our navy ? ' 

" ' The newspapers call it the strongest in the world,' 
I replied ; ' but this is not true. A great number of our 
vessels are mere scare-crows, and we have not a great 
number of real war vessels. But we have some sur- 
prisingly strong patches for special work, such as the 
" Monadnock " and sister vessels, that can meet success- 
fully any vessel afloat.' 



842 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" ' But should we have a war with France can we 
control the coast of Mexico ? ' the General inquired. 

"'Beyond a doubt,' was my prompt reply. 'Our 
monitors have been exaggerated into sea-going vessels, 
but they are defective in many points, yet they are suffi- 
ciently strong, and we have enough of them to hold the 
coast of Mexico against the whole French navy.' 

" The General seemed gratified at what I had said, 
and the tendency of his mind towards France can be 
gathered from what he said to me. I have reason to 
believe that the form of an ' energetic note ' was dis- 
cussed in the cabinet meeting about that time, a dis- 
cussion which resulted in the almost immediate 
evacuation of Mexico by the French, and a few weeks 
later General Grant remarked to me, with a humorous 
expression, that he supposed no one was more surprised 
than Mr. Seward at the result of this ' energetic note.' 
The notice was so 'energetic,' and General Grant's atti- 
tude made so plainly manifest to the French Govern- 
ment, that the troops were withdrawn forthwith. 

" General Grant had little respect for Mr. Seward's 
dallying policy. He was so direct himself that he hated 
the deceit of State craft, and he saw so much of it in the 
councils of Andrew Johnson's administration that he 
once said to me : 

" 'I shall never go to see Mr. Seward again. If I do 
I fear I shall learn to dislike him, and I do not wish to 
hate a single human being.' 

"I was living at Grant's house, and was in daily com- 
munication with him at the time that he made his inquiry 
as to the strength of the navy with a war with France 
in view. The ' energetic note ' was predicated upon the 
question as to whether we had a force strong enough to 
attack the French in Mexico and drive them out of the 



THE MEXICAN PERIL. 843 

country. The query had a very important bearing on 
the matter. Grant was then in supreme command of 
the army, and the note had an official significance, I 
am not quite certain as to the date, but I think it was 
written in February following the close of the war. 

" It was this action of General Grant's on behalf of 
Mexico which created the strong friendship that has ever 
existed between the citizens of that republic and the 
dead hero. There was no one thine at the time the 
Mexican question was pending about which General 
Grant felt more deeply than about the attempt of the 
French government to get a foothold there, and there 
is no possible question but that he was constantly press- 
ing upon Andrew Johnson's administration an energetic 
policy which would prevent a foreign government from 
seizing a sister republic on this continent as the price of 
a war between the sections of a country adjoining it. 
With Sheridan on the border and the French govern- 
ment still holding on in Mexico, there is no possible 
question but that General Grant intended to destroy the 
power of the imperialists in Mexico, even to the point 
of rendering them military aid, and this, too, if it should 
provoke a war with France." 



CHAPTER LXII. 

grant's troubles with JOHNSON. 

He stands like a stone wall between the ex-Confederates and punishment — His in- 
sistance upon the power of his parole — An incident told by Attorney- General 
Garland — Swinging round the circle — His disgust — The proximity of a revolution 
— Grant's reply to Johnson — Sherman sent for — The effort to get Grant to Mexico 
— His refusal to go — His regret at his first nomination to the Presidency. 

The troubles of Andrew Johnson's administration did 
not end with the conclusion of this Mexican trouble. 
Every day the breach between himself and the Republi- 
can party was growing wider and wider. Angry discus- 
sions in Conofress followed, and for a lonof time cfrew in 
intensity until almost a point of open rupture was 
reached. During this time General Grant's position 
was an exceedingly trying one. The President was 
anxious to arrest the civil leaders of the late Confeder- 
acy as well as General Lee and some of the higher 
military chieftains. In this desire he was upheld by 
Secretary Stanton and other members of his cabinet, 
and between both the President and Secretar}' of War 
General Grant stood in absolute opposition to any dis- 
turbance of the terms of his conference with the Con- 
federate soldiers. In one or two warm conferences 
between himself and Secretary Stanton he boldly an- 
nounced his determination to resist any effort to arrest 
any of the soldiers, high or low, who carried his parole. 
In behalf of those who had surrendered to him he threw 
his ofreat influence into the balances, and would have 
flung his commission into the face of the administration 
which sought to undo for peace all that he had accom- 
plished. It was after one of these conferences that he 
S4-4 



GRANTS TROUBLES WITH JOHNSON, 845 

wrote the following memorable opinion, which was in- 
cluded in a letter to the Secretary of War to be trans- 
mitted to the President : 

" My opinion is that the officers and men paroled at 
Appomattox Court House and since, upon the same 
terms given to Lee, cannot be tried for treason so far as 
they observe the terms of their parole. This is my 
understanding. Good faith, as well as true policy, dic- 
tates that we should observe the conditions of that con- 
vention. Bad faith on the part of the Government of a 
construction of that convention, subjecting the officers to 
trial for treason, would produce a feeling of insecurity In 
the minds of all the paroled officers and men. If so dis- 
posed they might even regard such an infraction of 
terms by the Government as an entire release from all 
obligations on their part." 

General Grant in this same paper notifies General Lee 
that he has forwarded his application for amnesty to the 
President with an earnest recommendation that it be 
granted. 

In November of 1865, General Grant made a tour 
through the Southern States, to report on the condition 
of affairs in the section lately In rebellion. He talked 
with many of the prominent men of the South, and In a 
brief report, made In December of the same year, he 
gave his views as to what course should be taken. They 
were in accordance with those he had constantly ex- 
pressed, but in the temper of the country. It was called a 
white-washing report. It was a wise, practical statement 
of the situation however, and time has vindicated his 
judgment. 

During the year 1865 his position at the national 
capital was not an enviable one. Without making any 
publicity about it he was constantly clashing with Secre- 



846 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

tary Stanton in relation to his treatment of the Con- 
federate soldiers, and was in more or less difficulty with 
the President in relation to various matters of the Gov- 
ernment. Attorney-General Garland, in speaking to the 
writer of General Grant's treatment of the South, and 
of his acts of personal kindness to the Southern people, 
relates the following circumstance as typical of many 
similar ones during that troubled time : 

" I was in Washington," said he, " on business in rela- 
tion to the test oath cases before the supreme court. Mrs. 
Clement C. Clay came on for the purpose of getting her 
husband released from prison. He was in very bad health, 
and every day's confinement was hastening his death. She 
asked my opinion as to what she should do. She was a 
very brilliant woman, had seen a great deal of public life 
and public men, and was fully capable of holding her own 
anywhere. Therefore I advised her to go and see the 
President, explain the situation and ask for his release. 

" She accepted my advice, drove to the White House, 
and not long after returned to the hotel with her intelli- 
gent face showing her success and beaming with happi- 
ness. She had from the President an order for her 
husband's release upon his furnishing the proper bond. 
All of us shared in her pleasure. After a short time 
she took a carriage and drove to the War Department, 
and after some difficulty obtained access to the Secretary 
of War, to whom the President's order was directed. 

" She presented it, and was struck dumb to see the 
Secretary crumble it in his hand, throw it into the waste 
basket, and abruptly inform her that her husband could 
not be released. As might have been expected, she 
came to the hotel in the depth of despair. I do not 
think I ever saw a person suffer more acute mental 
agony than Mrs. Clay on her return. 



GRANTS TROUBLES WITH JOHNSON. 847 

"We all tried to comfort her as much as possible, 
sharing, of course, in a measure, her sorrow. Finally, I 
happened to think of General Grant, and remembering 
that when I was in the Confederate Senate I had assisted 
in making her husband a brigadier-general, I advised her 
to go and see the General of the army. She thought It 
would do no good, and expressed her belief that there 
was no power now that could prevent her husband from 
dying in prison. After a good deal of persuasion, how- 
ever, she finally decided that she would go and see 
General Grant. She went to his office, but not finding 
him there, drove to his house. He was just preparing 
to leave home, but he received her kindly and said : 

'"What can I do for you, madam ? I am just about 
leaving.' 

" She told him her story, much as I have told It to you. 
He called for one of his secretaries, and Inquired if the 
name of Brigadier-General C. C. Clay was on the roll 
of Confederates surrendered at Appomattox. The 
secretary consulted the records, and in a few moments 
returned with the information that Clement C. Clay was 
a brigadier-general in the Confederate army, and was on 
the rolls of those surrendering with the Army of North- 
ern Virginia. General Grant at once took a small piece 
of paper and wrote : 

" ' Brigadier-general Clement C. Clay is included In 
the terms of General Lee's surrender at Appomattox 
Court-House. He will be released upon giving the 
proper bond, and I will see that this order Is carried Into 
effect.' 

" Mrs. Clay thanked the general warmly, took the 
order, and came back to the hotel very much relieved. 
But she was still apprehensive about her husband's 
release, for Secretary Stanton yet stood In the way. I 



848 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

quieted her with the assurance that she would have no 
trouble with Stanton now% but with some miso-ivintrs she 
again drove to the War Department, secured an audience 
with the Secretary and presented General Grant's order. 
The secretary glanced at it, shut his teeth too-ether 
firmly, showing his evident displeasure, and sullenly o-ave 
the order for Mr. Clay's release, and his wife returned 
to the hotel overjoyed at the result of General Grant's 
kindness. 

" This is the most striking example I can give, but he 
w^s constantly doing acts of individual kindness just like 
it. In his relations with the southern people he was 
always frank and honest, and the disputed quesdons 
which arose in Arkansas he decided with satisfaction to 
our people. Whenever it was possible to get the real 
facts before General Grant in relation to almost any 
subject, you were sure of getting a just decision." 

Many instances of General Grant's difterences with 
Secretary Stanton and President Johnson in relation to 
the treatment of southern soldiers could be cited, but 
this one, told by the present attorney-general of the 
United States, is significant enough to stand as the evi- 
dence of General Grant's loyalty to his word, and his 
kind-heartedness toward the people who had but then 
just re-entered the nationality. 

It was in 1866 that General Grant wrote his letter to 
General Ingalls, presented elsewhere in facsimile, urg- 
ing that Senator Nesmith be returned to the Senate from 
Oregon. Nesmith was a democrat, but he was doing 
good service for the cause of harmony, and Grant had 
only this in view. He was not a partisan, but was always 
anxious that the best interests of the country should be 
first consulted. 

The next summer after this occurrence President j'ohn- 



gfal)-%arttts ^rmits of i\t Initci) Slatjs, 

3 u ^ 849 











Head-Quarters Armies op the Unitfd Statks, 
Washington, D. C, A-*. 7/A, 1866. 

Dear Ingalls :— My office was crowded yesterday up until I left it, so that I had no chance to 
write the K-ttcr you requested. This morning, however, I have written the enclosed to Eckerson, 
who 1 know, instead of to Ainsworth, who I do not know. It would really look like taking sides in 
politics to write to a stranger on such a subject That I want to avoid, and would like at the same 
lime to help Nesmith if what 1 can say will do it. 

I hope sincerely that he will be returned to the U. S. Senate for another six years, because he has 
been a good friend to the country without running wild after matters that can neither benefit it nor 
thuvc intended to he benefiled. 

If the letter which 1 have written does not answer, send it back with suggestions. 

Yours, &c., U.S.Grant. 

6.>0 



GRANT'S TROUBLES WITH JOHNSTON. 851 

son made his famous swing around the circle. He took 
as his guests General Grant and Admiral Farragut. 

" In response to a telegram," says Admiral Ammen, 
" I met General Grant at a station on the road, and had 
quite a talk with him. He told me of the differences 
between himself and the President, and I shall never 
forget his expressions of disgust at the proceedings of 
which he was the^i seemingly a part. His habit was 
always one of entire composure, but on this occasion he 
broke out in strong condemnation of the actions of the 
President, and of the character of speech he was making 
to the people who went to see him. 

" I did not see him again after this expression until he 
was appointed secretary of war ad interim. I was then 
in Washington as his guest, and he came over to his 
house almost immediately after his conference with the 
President upon that subject. He said to me ; 

" • I have been offered and have accepted the position 
of acting secretary of war. I do this with great reluc- 
tance, and mainly from the conviction that if I do not 
accept, some objectionable man would be appointed. 
Under the present laws, the signature of the Secretary 
of War can permit the treasury to be robbed of hundreds 
of millions of dollars. I can at least prevent that. And 
then perhaps I can do something in the way of trimming 
down the expenses of the army establishment, and in 
quieting the troubles which are just now agitating the 
country on account of these differences between the 
President and Mr. Stanton.' " 

It would appear that General Grant's interest in Mexi- 
can affairs kept coming back to plague him during all the 
boisterous times of Johnson's administration. General 
Sherman and Admiral Ammen both tell a most interesting 
story. Admiral Ammen takes up the narrative by saying : 



852 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" While I was still the guest of General Grant at his 
own house, General Sherman appeared one morning 
before breakfast, when General Grant, with a twinkle in 
his eye, asked : 

" ' What are you doing here, Sherman ? Do you know 
that under existing laws your leaving your station with- 
out my authority subjects you to grave penalties?' 

" ' Yes,' replied Sherman, ' that is very true; but I have 
come on here upon a telegram from the President and 
have called to see you to find out what is in the wind.' 

" I never inquired of either party the status which 
seemed to me to be explained by subsequent events." 

Gen. Sherman now, in speaking to the writer of this 
incident, says : " I recall very clearly being called to 
Washington by a telegram from President Johnson. My 
headquarters were then at St. Louis, but I was down in 
New Mexico among the Indians. I did not know v/hat 
was going on, but I came to Washington as rapidly as 
possible and immediately went to Gen. Grant's house to 
find out. When we were together I asked him what was 
up. His reply was that he did not know but that there 
was something in the wind. Me said that there was a 
disposition in the cabinet to get rid of him. The propo- 
sition had been made to send him to Mexico, but he had 
determined not to go. He said he would stand a court- 
martial first. 

" He then told me that Mr. Seward formulated some 
sort of a paper which had been read and agreed upon at 
a recent cabinet meeting. He remai-ked that he had said 
at the time that he was not in the habit of receiving 
orders from the Secretary of State, whereupon they had 
said that that could be very easily remedied, that it could 
be made to read as an order from the .Secretary of War. 
Gen. Grant then urged that it was a diplomatic mission 



GRANTS TROUBLES WITH JOHNSTON. 853 

and one under which he could not be sent under the law. 
He said that if they wanted to send the army down there 
with him at its head that was a very different thing, but 
that he could not be ordered by the Secretary of War 
upon any diplomatic mission. 

" After this explanation I said : 

" ' Well, what do they want of me ? ' 

" ' I do not know,' was his reply. 

" After this conversation I went over immediately and 
called upon the President without visiting Secretary Stan- 
ton or any of the other cabinet officers. The President 
told me frankly that they were going to send Lew. Camp- 
bell as minister to Mexico, accredited to the Juarez gov- 
ernment and that it was thought best to send Gen, Grant 
along with him ; that his high position and his known 
friendship for Mexico would give this act of the govern- 
ment high standing and place our minister in a high posi- 
tion with the government with which he was accredited. 
I asked where Juarez was. The answer came that he 
was either at El Paso or near Monterey, I then said : 

" ' Mr, President, why do you want to send Gen, Grant 
upon this service ? ' 

"'Well,' said the President, 'he has a great reputation 
and will properly introduce our representative.' 

" I said : Mr, President, this is a diplomatic mission and 
Gen, Grant will not go upon it. He will disobey the 
order if it is issued,' 

"The President seemed very much surprised and said 
that he had very great regard for Gen. Grant, and would 
not like to do anything that was distasteful to him, yet he 
thought it would be to the interest of the government if 
he would go down with Mr. Campbell and present him 
to the Juarez government. After some further conver- 
sation I replied : 



854 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" ' Well, Gen. Hancock's command extends to El Paso 
and Gen. Sheridan's south of that to the orulf. Either ot 
them would escort our minister to Mexico to his proper 
destination and present him to the government to which 
he if accredited. But if it would relieve the executive of 
any embarrassment, my command includes both of theirs 
and I will go down myself.' 

" ' Very well, if you will go that settles it,' said he, ' and 
It will be just as well.' 

" He asked me to call upon the Secretary of the Navy, 
which I did, and five days later took the steamer for the 
gulf Thus was the difficulty, so far as Grant was con- 
cerned, bridged over, and he was kept from an open 
rupture with the executive. My opinion is, they desired 
to get rid of him, and keep him from being a candidate 
for the Presidency. What they wanted of me in case 
Grant was sent out of the country I do not know. The 
discussion between President Jolinson and myself never 
got that far," 

General Grant's differences with Andrew Johnson 
were continuous without an open confiict during all of 
his term as President. As the difficulties between John- 
son and the President grew, General Grant was in- 
formed that an arrangement was being made in Mary- 
land for an organization of a force to support the 
President in case there was an open rupture between 
himself and Congress. He directed the officer com- 
manding in Washington at the time to send a trusted 
officer into Maryland to ascertain the strength of the 
force and what was being done in the way of arming and 
drilling it. It was the duty of the first officer sent to 
only report as to the strength of the force, and he per- 
formed that duty ; and his present recollection is that 
the militia force of the state did not exceed five thou- 






GRANT'S TROUBLES WITH JOHNSTON. 855 

sand. After this officer had reported upon the strength 
and location, another officer was dispatched who re- 
ported upon its operations, how it was being handled, etc. 

Both of the officers are still living who were sent upon 
this duty. Only a day or so after the report of the 
officer upon this subject, Governor Tom Swan of Mary- 
land made a requisition for all the field artillery to which 
the state was entitled. This requisition General Grant 
pigeon-holed, and remarked to a friend, an officer of high 
standing and who was sittinsr near : 

" I have a mind to write to the Governor of Maryland 
and notify him that I am fully aware of what is going on, 
and intend to keep my eye upon it." 

After a moment's thouofht he said: 

" No ; I think I had better keep still." 

Only a day or two after this President Johnson came 
over to his office and spent an hour talking about com- 
monplace matters, but just before he started to go he 
turned to General Grant and said : 

" General, I am very anxious to know, in case there 
should be an open rupture between myself and Con- 
gress, with which side you will be found." 

" That will depend," said the General, with some ear- 
nestness, " upon which is the revolutionary party." 

While all this was transpiring General Grant was 
made aware of the fact that in the city of Washino-ton 
there was an organization of three thousand veteran 
soldiers under the command of a major-general who is 
still living, and is one of the most conspicuous volunteer 
officers of the late war. This organization was well 
officered and ready to be armed at the declaration of 
hostilities between Congress and the President. Mr. 
Stanton was the master spirit of the organization, and 
its purpose was to be ready to meet any emergency that 



856 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

might arise. The President was commander-in-chief of 
the army, and neither side was able to find out what 
General Grant would do in an emergency, whether he 
would obey Congress or the President. So each side 
had its little hostile force prepared for the clash, and 
Genera] Grant, fully aware of this state of things, stood 
between the two like an impassable barrier, warning 
both sides to keep the peace. It was well known that 
about the time President Johnson asked General Grant 
the important question above described, confidential 
letters were sent by the Secretary of the Navy to leading 
naval officers, several of whom are still living. The 
letters asked for much the same information. 

Grant regretted his first nomination to the Presidency, 
I am quite sure. He would have preferred anything but 
that. He accepted it because he thought it would be 
advantageous to the country from the confidence which 
people had in him rather than from any assumption of 
ability. He said this much in his inaugural. Of course 
he felt a certain amount of gratification, but he was full 
of regret at having to leave the army. Still, after the 
four years of agitation which had grown out of the dis- 
pute between Johnson and Congress he felt that it was 
his duty to do what he could to give the country a season 
of peace. 

The quiet confidence of his inaugural was greatly 
commented upon throughout the country, but it exactly 
expressed his feelings. He looked without apprehension 
to the future. He felt that it was sufficiently assured. 
Still his mode of expression exasperated politicians. 
They thought that he was too sure of himself, while the 
people who knew General Grant simply read in his in- 
augural an honest regard for the country and a deter- 
mination to do the best he could for it. 



CHAPTER LXIII. 

GRANT AS PRESIDENT. 

Grant's nomination in 1868 — The last States readmitted to the Union — "Let us 
have peace " — The fifteenth amendment — Condition of the South — The Force 
bill — The Republican revolt — Defeat of Greeley — The panic of 1873 — The infla- 
tion period — Bill for the resumption of specie payments — The Geneva award — 
The Centennial — The Electoral Commission — Review of his civil career. 

In 1868, while the impeachment trial of Andrew 
Johnson was still in progress, General Grant was 
unanimously nominated for the presidency by the Re- 
publican party, assembled in national convention in the 
city of Chicago, His personal desire was to remain in 
his position as the active head of the armies ; but he 
held himself absolutely at the call of the will of the peo- 
ple, and the nomination was at once accepted. All 
through his public career General Grant had conscien- 
tiously met every responsibility honestly thrust upon 
him, and he did not hesitate now. He believed that, to a 
large extent, the exercise of the chief executive power 
would enable him to complete the work he had begun 
durine the war, and it was his confidence in himself and 
in his great experience with the people and soldiery of 
the conquered section which led him to think that there 
was a great task for him to accomplish in the presiden- 
tial office. " Let us have peace " — the famous closing 
sentence in his letter of acceptance — was the measure 
of the spirit with which he entered upon his duties. 

The election was held, and he was chosen by an over- 
whelming majority. He received two hundred and 

(857) 



858 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



seventeen of the electoral votes, while Seymour, his 
opponent, received only seventy-seven. The country 
was clearly with him, but the task ahead was not the 
less a severe one. Johnson's administration had been 
one of turmoil and contiict. It had aroused the bitterest 
opposition in his own party. Its effect had been bad 
upon the South, because it had resulted in a confusion 
of politics and a vacillation of conduct not at all tending 

towards the settle- 
ment of the political 
chaos in which the 
country found itself 
at the close of the 
war. 

Grant was strongr- 
er than any other 
man with the States 
lately in rebellion, 
because of the de- 
cisive stand he had 
taken in insisting 
that the Confeder- 
ate soldiers whom 
he had parolled 
should not be held 
liable to civil arrest 
for their participation in liic rebellion ; but even he was 
regarded with suspicion. Between the surrender and 
his accession to office the first flush of gratitude at the 
terms which had been given to Lee's army had died 
away. Delicate questions had arisen for adjudication, 
and the South had grown sullen over discouraging de- 
cisions. The negro was a free laborer, and it was hard 
for his former master to conform to the new social sys- 





Y^.S 






(859) 




860 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

tem. The fifteenth amendment, making the late slave 
a voter, had been passed, and upon the ratification of 
the amendment depended the political life of the States 
but recently in revolt. They must ratify it to regain 
their positions in the Union, and the necessary alterna- 




^ i^— \, _ _ ~, 

GRANTS AKKIVAI. AT THE WEST WING OF THE CAPITOL. 

tivc was a bitter one. Out of it ijrew a general cold- 
ness and resentment in the South towards tlie national 
government. 

But Grant took the situation in his strouij hand with 




(861) 



862 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

confidence. From the first he had had the statesman's 
idea of hcvv reconcihation should be secured. He in- 
sisted primarily upon absolute respect and obedience 
to the laws of the land. He was willing, within this 
limit, to concede everything that could be conceded 
with dignity to old growths of prejudice that could not 
at once be uptorn. He wanted the South to control its 
local governments as far as possible and he made ad- 
vances towards ex-Confederate leaders to this end, but 
the advances were not met with cordiality. The South 
found it difficult to look upon the negro in his new dig- 
nity as a citizen. The change was too sudden. For 
generations he had been a bondman and a chattel, and 
the bitterest sequence of the war was his elevation to 
political equality. Planters insisted that black labor 
should live in quarters as before and dine at a common 
table. That what wages were earned should be paid 
only at the end of a year. That the term of service 
should always extend for twelve months, and that to 
leave before the expiration of the term would forfeit all 
that the laborer had earned during the time he had been 
at work. That he be compelled to have a pass from the 
planter himself before being allowed to go from one 
plantation to another, and that he be debarred from 
assembling for religious services unless the minister 
preaching had been regularly ordained. There was lit- 
tle advance upon actual slavery in this, and yet the 
Southern whites firmly believed that it was necessary for 
their social and commercial protection. 

Congress was at work upon the question, however, 
and the most important measures looking to the enforce- 
ment of recognition of the new element of citizenship 
were adopted in the early days of Grant's term. The 
Civil Rights Bill was passed in April, 1869. In 1870 



GRANT AS PRESIDENT. 



863 



Texas, the last of the Southern States upon the outside, 
was readmitted to the Union. On the 20th of March 
of the same year the announcement that the fifteenth 
amendment had been ratified was made, and two months 
later the enforcement act was passed. The main steps 
had now been taken and the problem had to work itself 
out. 

How it did so is a history which does not belong here. 
There was 
much riot, 
much blood- 
shed, many 
appeals for 
nadonal inter- 
ference. Af- 
ter the war 
there had 
been a consid- 
erable immi- 
gration to the 
South from 
the 



the new ele- 
ment was of 
a good qual- 
ity. It in- 
cluded polidcal adventurers who went solely for pur- 
poses of plunder, and these had little difficulty in 
using the newly enfranchised negroes as tools. They 
obtained possession of many of the State governments, 
and, in some cases, their conduct of affairs was infamous. 
But force and malfeasance were natural outgrowths of 
the exisdng condidons, and time was needed to allow 




CHARLES SUMNER. 



864 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the turbid stream to fall to its natural channel. General 
Grant's part in the disturbances was that of an impartial 
executive who insisted upon what was right from both 
elements. As well as he could he sifted the cloud of 
petidons and protests which belonged to the time, and 
ruled as seemed to him just. Difficult as was his posi- 
tion he maintained it with dignity and equity. 

His first 
^ term wore 

on. As it 
progressed 
there de- 
veloped 
symptoms 
of dissat- 
is fac ti on 
among the 
old party 
leaders, 
notably 
S e nators 
Schurz and 
Sumner. 
The mur- 
murs orrew 
until they 
became 
clamor. A 



HORACE (;KKI'.IJ Y. 

number of Republican papers joined in the cry, 
until it developed into what seemed a potent revolt 
in the Republican ranks. It had no definite policy 
or issue for its basis, but was founded solely upon per- 
sonal opposition to General Grant. The air was dense 
with slander, and vituperation took the place of argu- 





3E 



(865) 



866 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

merit. The wildest and most reckless accusations were 
made against the President. Every patriotic act of his 
career was distorted into a semblance of conspiracy for 
self and against the republic. There was a delirium of 




GENERAL GRANT LEAVING THE WHITE HOUSE TO ATTEND 
THE INAUGURATION. 

detraction which has never had a parallel in the repub- 
lic's history. 

He was quiet through it all. The malcontents held a 
convention in Cincinnati in 1872 and nominated Horace 






\y'\i' 




\ ia:;.i;ii:u.i:ij!:aii!i[iiL^ jj.m:.!ii:;;;;i,;i.:a.i!|,:ii;[i,li u \\i ml ni ii , 1 1 n \\ 



(8t7] 



868 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Greeley for the presidency. The RepubKcan conven- 
tion again met in Chicago and re-nominated General 
Grant. The Democratic convention met at Baltimore 
and ratified the nomination of Greeley, and the lines 
were drawn. An Appomattox followed. The people 
sustained Grant by an extraordinary uprising. He re- 
ceived two hundred and eighty-six electoral votes to 
forty-seven for the other ticket — the greatest majority 
ever received by a president in later years. Greeley 
died shortly after the election, and his votes in the elec- 
toral college were divided among a number of persons 
whose names had not been mentioned in the conflict. 

General Grant's second term was an eventful one. 
Scarcely had he entered upon it when the panic of 1873 
burst upon the country. Speculation in railway stocks 
had reached the extreme limit, and a collapse came 
which beat down fictitious values almost to nothing. A 
period of severe financial strain followed. In January, 
1875, against fierce opposition, Congress passed the bill 
requiring the resumption of specie payments on January 
I, 1879. In November of the same year Vice-Presi- 
dent Wilson died of paralysis at the capital. In the 
year following the Centennial of the Declaration of 
Independence was celebrated at Philadelphia, and, as 
his term dwindled towards the end, the series of great 
historical events was closed by the fierce contest for the 
presidency between Hayes and Tilden. At one time 
the dispute bade fair to involve the country in another 
civil war, but the firmness of the soldier at the helm 
was sufficient, of itself, to preserve the peace. 

When he left the presidency every State was in the 
Union and under a local government. The fifteenth 
amendment was an established fact. The enforcement 
act was in operation. The Geneva award had been 



GRANT AS PRESIDENT. 869 

made. The wave of inflation had been beaten back. 
The resumption bill had been passed. The boundary- 
line question between this country and England was 
settled. The greatest and most dangerous problem 
which ever arose over a presidential election had been 
solved peacefully and without permanently threatening 
agitation. He had gone from the army to the White 
House with every issue which had arisen out of the civil 
strife a living issue. When he retired all these issues 
belonged to history. 

His famous speech at Des Moines, Iowa, to the So- 
ciet)'^ of the Army of the Tennessee shows how deeply 
he felt the great questions of the republic. He said : 

"Comrades: It always affords me much gratification 
to meet my old comrades in arms ten to fourteen years 
ago, and to live over again in memory the trials and 
hardships of those days — hardships imposed for the 
preservation and perpetuation of our free institutions. 
We believed then and believe now that we had a eov- 
ernment worth fighting for, and, if need be, dying for. 
How many of our comrades of those days paid the lat- 
ter price for our preserved Union ! Let their heroism 
and sacrifices be ever green in our memory. Let not 
the results of their sacrifices be destroyed. The Union 
and the free institutions for which they fell should be 
held more dear for their sacrifices. We will not deny to 
any who fought against us any privileges under the gov- 
ernment which we claim for ourselves. On the con- 
trary, we welcome all such who come forward in good 
faith to help build up the waste places, and to perpetuate 
our institutions against all enemies, as brothers in full 
interest with us in a common heritaofe. But we are not 
prepared to apologize for the part we took in the war. 
It is to be hoped that like trials will never again befall 




(870/ 



GRANT AS PRESIDENT. 871 

our country. In this sentiment no class of people can 
more heartily join than the soldier who submitted to the 
dangers, trials and hardships of the camp and battle- 
field, on whichever side he fouo-ht. 

" I do not bring- into this assemblage politics, certainly 
not partisan politics, but it is a fair subject for soldiers 
in their deliberations to consider what may be necessary 
to secure the prize for which they battle. In a republic 
like ours, where the citizen is the sovereisfn and the of- 
ficial the servant, where no power is exercised except by 
the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign 
— the people — should possess intelligence. The free 
school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to 
preserve us a free nation. If we are to have another 
contest in the near future of our national existence, I 
predict that the dividing line will not be Mason's and 
Dixon's, but between patriotism and intelligence on the 
one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the 
other. Now, in this centennial year of our national ex- 
istence. I believe it is a oood time to beein the work of 
strengthening the foundation of the house commenced 
by our patriotic forefathers one hundred years ago at 
Concord and Lexington. Let us all labor to add all 
needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free 
thought, free speech and free press, pure morals, unfet- 
tered religious sentiments and of equal rights and privi- 
leges to all men irrespective of nationality, color or re- 
ligion. Encourage free schools, and resolve that not 
one dollar of money appropriated to their support, no 
matter how raised, shall be appropriated to the support 
of any sectarian school. Resolve that neither the state 
or nation, nor both combined, shall support institutions 
of learning other than those sufficient to afford to every 
child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good 



872 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

common-school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan 
or atheistical tenets. Leave the matter of religion to 
the family altar, the church and the private school sup- 
ported entirely by private contribution. Keep the 
church and state forever separate. With these safe- 
guards I believe the battles which created the Army of 
the Tennessee will not have been fouo^ht in vain." 

Men must be judged by results, and not by partisan 
and transitory prejudices. Analysis, and not impression, 
is the secret of accurate history. When the future his- 
torian studies calmly and impartially the story of Gen- 
eral Grant's presidential terms, he will place him among 
the ereat civil rulers of the nation. He made errors of 
judgment in men, but never errors of judgment in 
policy. In the doubtful and complicated perplexities 
of his position he was uniformly right. He had not 
sought the office, and it was in many respects distasteful 
to him. He was a soldier, and not a politician. But, in 
time, when his clearness of vision, honesty of purpose 
and genuine spirit of nationality are more fully studied, 
it will be seen that he fitted the times in the presidential 
chair as well as he fitted the times in the bitter days 
when he was at the head of the national army. 

He entered the office with the stirring declaration, 
" Let us have peace ! " In the days when inflation 
seemed about to win he announced that " the national 
credit must and shall be preserved." He cleared the 
mists in the time of the whiskey-ring episode with the 
single sentence, " Let no guilty man escape." And 
when, in the last hours of his civil power, he was asked 
what course he would take as between Tilden and 
Hayes, he answered, '* I shall do right. Whoever is 
elected will be seated." These terse, epigrammatic 
sentences epitomize his presidential career. 



CHAPTER LXIV. 

GRANT AND THE SUPREME COURT. 

Grant and the judiciary — Justice Miller's recollections of him as President — His ju- 
dicial appointments — Grant in society — An interesting companion — His quality 
of silence — The value of his appointments — His simplicity — An interesting esti- 
mate of his character. 

Men under the influence of passion or interest often 
act unwisely, and the storms of poHtics breed more 
maUce than all the tempests that sway the human mind. 
Those who deal largely with money matters are espe- 
cially apt to make reckless charges of maladministration 
against the executive power when their wishes are not 
complied with. So through the whole line of human 
interest prejudice is awakened when success in any 
given direction is not achieved. It was, therefore, not 
strange that General Grant's dealings with the Supreme 
Court of the United States and other judicial officers of 
the government should be severely criticised and com- 
mented upon ; but now that a calm judgment upon 
his treatment of this branch of the government can 
with propriety be invoked, it is well that what is here 
presented may come from a man of the highest dis- 
tinction and largest opportunities, and Justice Samuel F. 
Miller is asked to speak. He was once upon the verge of 
the chief-justiceship. His legal quality is of the finest, and 
his testimony is of prime value as establishing the views 
the judicial mind takes of the hero's relations with the 
hio-hest court of law in the land. 

" General Grant's conduct toward and relations with 
the judicial power of the government were eminendy 

(873) 



874 LIFE OF GEXEKAL GRANT. 

appropriate. He paid the Supreme Court of the 
United States the full measure of respect and courtesy 
that custom has prescribed since its organization, and I 
think he was on good terms personally with all the 
judges. No President was ever more considerate in 
his manner of treating judicial officers than General 
Grant, and the country and the Supreme Court are 
under obligations to him for his judicial appointments. 

" Soon after his elevation to the Presidency Judge 
Greer resigned, and he filled the vacancy by the ap- 
pointment of Edwin M. Stanton. Mr. Stanton was a 
very able man and lawyer, but I have always doubted 
whether he would have made a very satisfactory judge. 
He died soon after confirmation, and Judge Strong, of 
Pennsylvania, was named in his place. Ji-idge Bradley 
was appointed soon after, and still later Judge Hunt and 
Chief-Justice Waite. 

" The high judicial as well as personal character of 
these men is well known, and the suggestion that any 
one of them was appointed by General Grant to influence 
a decision upon the legal tender act is too absurd to be 
discussed. The action of the court upon that question 
was one of absolute judgment. At the time the first 
decision was made in the case of Hepburn against 
Griswold it was very well understood that the question 
would soon again come up for consideration. 

"About the time that General Grant appointed Stanton, 
Strong, and Bradley, the law went into effect creating 
nine Circuit Judges. Next to the Justices of the Supreme 
Court these were the most important judicial offices in 
the United States. I venture to say that no such nine 
judges for character and ability have ever been selected 
at one time by any nominating power. It is now nearly 
twenty years since they were commissioned, and the 



GRANT AND THE SUPREME COURT. 875 

career of those men has been such as to be a most won- 
derful indorsement of the capacity, skill, and fidelity 
with which they were selected. The President had the 
aid of Judge Hoar, who was then Attorney-General, 
whose sagacity and sound judgement were invaluable ; 
but the fact will stand for all time that Grant's judicial 
appointments were ot the very highest character. 
His noniination of George H. Williams for Chief- 
Justice has been much commented upon. Mr. Williams 
has suffered very unjustly in public estimation. At the 
time of his nomination I had known him for twenty 
years very intimately, and I embrace this opportunity of 
bearing my testimony to his ability as a lawyer and his 
uprightness as a man. We lived together in the city of 
Keokuk for several years, and I practised law before 
him while he was Judge of the State Court. Although 
my friends were pressing me strongly for the Chief- 
Justiceship, I should have been well satisfied had Mr. 
Williams been confirmed. Therefore, not only in the 
nominations I have named but in the selection of Judge 
Williams, General Grant in my opinion acted wisely and 
for the public good. 

"The social life of the National Capital, in which 
General Grant moved freely, was where he was seen at 
his best. He went out more than any other President 
had ever done before, and I met him upon these pleas- 
ant occasions, where his best characteristics were de- 
veloped. He was a ready and fluent talker. I have not 
met many men who, under circumstances that were cal- 
culated to draw them out, could talk more agreeably, 
readily, or sensibly. I have seen him sit in a room with 
eight or ten gentlemen whom he knew well, and chat as 
freely as among a lot of college boys. I have seen 
him the centre. of a brilliant company, when some man 



876 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

whom he did not know or trust would appear, and he 
would close up and say no more during the balance of 
the evening. To have General Grant speak at his best 
and freest, he must feel sure that his listeners were his 
personal friends. I think he had the peculiarity of 
silence in the presence of strangers, or among those in 
whom he lacked confidence, greater than any man I ever 
met. This indicated one of his strongest qualities. To 
a man he personally did not know or like he was the 
silent man ; but to one or many who had found their 
way under his reserve he was freedom itself 

"Grant was a vigorous thinker and clear-headed man. 
The extent of his information and o-eneral learning was 
not as great as that of many men who attained celebrity 
and exalted public station. But for vigorous common- 
sense and the exercise of sound judgment on subjects 
with which he was familiar I think he was excelled by 
few men I ever knew. His observations on men and 
things always showed a discerning, strong, well-balanced 
mind. He was a great character, and I regard him as 
entitled to a higher place than that of a mere mili- 
tary leader. In the first place, he possessed an emi- 
nently practical mind. He was doubtless less profound 
than many men, but upon all subjects to which he brought 
his attention, and with such elements as he had before 
him upon which to make up a judgment, his action was 
likely to be sound and wise. Perfect candor was one of 
his striking traits of character. I do not believe he ever 
attempted to deceive, simulate, or mislead in any state- 
ment he had to make, public or private, and I believe 
that he honestly endeavored to do what was for the 
public good in the exercise of power. 

*' He had some of the most pleasing characteristics of 
any public man this country has produced. He was less 



GRANT AND THE SUPREME COURT. 877 

jealous of his rivals than any person I ever knew. He 
was ready to do justice to those who might come 
in competition with his reputation as a general, and I 
believe that at any time he would have been willing to 
run the risk of marring that reputation rather than en- 
hance it by withholding just praise in regard to the acts 
of any of his subordinates, or, indeed, of his equals. 
He possessed a high degree of moral courage and 
firmness, and was always prepared to follow his con- 
victions to his own hazard, and often to that of his party, 
by the misconstruction that might be put upon his acts. 

•' It is my judgment that from want of experience in 
public life and in general business affairs he was often 
misled by men in whom he had confidence, for when he 
put his faith in an individual he relied implicitly on his 
honesty. Being so thoroughly honest himself, he be- 
lieved every one else to be so. This led him into errors 
of administration which might have been avoided had he 
sought information outside of the circle which sur- 
rounded him. He had the misfortune of not having 
the ablest of cabinets, and one of the errors of his 
life, and perhaps the greatest one, was the confidence 
he gave to men whose only recommendation was their 
wealth. But mistakes are inseparable from greatness, 
and no man is so well rounded out into perfectness that 
he is free from them. General Grant was a noble char- 
acter, with high qualities of mind and heart, and his 
name will pass into history along with the best and 
bravest the world has ever produced." 

This estimate of the commander comes from a judi- 
cial source. It is a conservative and carefully considered 
one. It deals with him not from the point of eulogy, 
but from that of fact. It is a plain statement of how he 
was regarded by those best situated to judge his acts. 



878 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

It is too early yet to fully estimate the value of Gen- 
eral Grant's civil career. The questions with which he 
dealt are still in the transition stag-e. But it is the best 
opinion of those who have thought most deeply on 
these subjects, and who have watched current histor\- un- 
fold, that he displayed a grasp of civil polity which was 
extraordinary when his inexperience in civil aftairs is 
considered. The best tribute to the o-eneral results of 
General Grant's two presidential terms is the fact that it 
has not been necessary, since his incumbency, to take 
any backward steps. The best judgment of the republic 
has sustained his positions upon the various great ques- 
tions which crowded upon his administration, and when 
his civil career is fully analyzed it will prove him as 
great in the cabinet as he was in the field. 



CHAPTER LXV. 

TOUCHING DIPLOMACY. 

The international questions during Grant's terms — His admirable choice of a 
secretary of state — Mr. Fish's recollections of his chief — His desire to conciliate 
the South — Grant's leading traits — His trustfulness of character — His readiness 
to yield to proper influences — Belief in Christianity — Love and tenderness for 
his family — Who our new military leaders would be. 

Many international questions of high moment came 
up for settlement during General Grant's Presidential 
terms and the manner in which the interests of the nation 
were guarded by Mr. Hamilton Fish, who was at the 
head of the State department, showed a fine genius of 
diplomacy. The treaty of Washington, the Geneva Tri- 
bunal, the ever-present and always vexatious fisheries 
question, and the tragedy of the Virginius were all of 
exceedingly international delicacy, and the trained diplo- 
matists of Europe found in this quiet country gentleman 
an antagonist whose polished courtesy was the sheen of 
a mind alert in his country's service. 

In his contribution to the general understanding of 
General Grant's character he is necessarily contracted 
by the fact that many of the questions which held the 
attention of his department are still unsettled. Diplo- 
macy is a serial story whose chapters march towards 
a conclusion with much deliberation, and, until the end 
is reached, they are in an atmostphere of grave mys- 
tery whose etiquette forbids discussion. Therefore 
the estimate which Mr. Fish makes of his dead friend 
and former chief must deal largely with detail which 
already belongs to the nation. He was the sheet 
anchor of General Grant's civil career. Essentially 

879 



880 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

a. conservative, and a striking combination of the best 
qualities of the fine old Knickerbocker type, he was 
strong in his friendship and invaluable in counsel. He 
had dignity, patience, the foresight of careful thought, 
and a strength of character which harmonized in a strik- 
incr decrree with the finer traits of General Grant's own 
mental and moral constitution. 

General Grant ranked Mr. Fish as third in the list of 
the world's diplomats, and said : " He is such a straight- 
forward, upright, able man, no head of the State Depart- 
ment, in fifty years, has approached him in dignity and 
capacity. Marcy, in some respects, was his equal, but 
Marcy, at times, strove for effect, which Fish never did. 
He was so upright that he almost leaned backward." 

All through the stormy episodes of the second term 
Mr. Fish stood quiet and reserved, holding the confi- 
dence of the country and sustaining his chief with digni- 
fied loyalty. It is the habit of the country to form quick 
judgments on half information, and therefore the full 
services of the State Department, during the period 
when Mr. Fish was at its head, have never received 
proper general recognition. The same sturdy common- 
sense and desire to attain exact justice which ruled 
General Grant's character obtained in the treatment of 
matters of international dispute, and at no time was the 
national self-respect ruffled in the slightest degree. It 
was always safe in the hands of the administration. 

Mr. Fish says: "The country is just beginning to 'ap- 
preciate that General Grant was more than a military 
man ; that, as a civil officer, he had foresight and judg- 
ment of the highest kind. When he said 'Let us have 
peace,' he meant the phrase to its uttermost. It was 
the after expression of what had always been his domi- 
nant idea. He knew that the results of the war meant 



TOUCHING DIPLOMACY. 8S1 

that the people of the North and South would have to 
live together under the same government, and he be- 
lieved that the establishment of thoroughly amicable 
relations was as mucli of a necessity as the arbitrament 
of war had been. The first he held to be the natural 
sequel of the second. The war had been prosecuted to 
defend the Union and had succeeded, and he believed 
that there should be re-established a Union of national 
sentiment as well as a Union of law. The war was one 
step; generous magnanimity in the treatment of the 
defeated section was another step and quite as neces- 
sary. 

" He looked further ahead than the nation did. He 
saw beyond the turmoil and the chaos which fol- 
lowed the dissolution of the Confederate armies. He 
recoonized the historical stren^rth of the fact that when 
General Lee surrendered he surrendered an idea as well 
as an army, and with the surrender of the idea, the late 
combatants again necessarily became applicants for ad- 
mission at the door of nationality. In the South there 
were bitter disappointment, profound depression and 
discouragement, desolated homes, poverty and material 
ruin. He would not add to these by a florid and vulgar 
expression of triumph. It never crossed his mind that 
he had done anything but a duty which was a painful 
but imperative one, and he regarded the rehabilitation of 
the South as a part of the work of which its defeat had 
been the beginning. 

" His earliest movement inthis direction began with the 
surrender, when he dictated the terms of Lee's capitula- 
tion, and his report to the country of the condition of the 
South after the war was the next. Throughout he main- 
tained his consistency upon this subject. His convictions 
as to the value of the policy never wavered at any time, 



882 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and to him, more than to any other man, the growth of 
good feeling between the two sections is due. 

" When he became President he recognized that the 
fact that the South had been virtually debarred, since 
the close of the conflict, from the civil conduct of its 
affairs was a source of exasperation, and he desired to 
remedy this. But the course of the Johnson administra- 
tion had made Southern men cold and indifferent, and 
his advances, even in the cases of Moseby and Long- 
street, were not met. 

" After the war, many Northern men went South to 
reside. In the majority of cases they were moved 
only by an honest desire to become citizens of the 
states lately in rebellion, and to cast in their lots with 
those with whom they had been so recently in oppo- 
sition. Unfortunately, however, this new element of 
population was not cordially received. With them had 
come a class of political adventurers whose sole intent 
was to speculate upon place and get rich upon the pecu- 
liar condition of politics in the conquered section. Gross 
wrongs were committed on both sides, and the press was 
full of stories of outrage which were sometimes true 
and sometimes the exaggerated Injustice of a political 
campaign. The South drew no distinction, however. 
It confounded the men who had come to work with the 
men who had come for a home, and out of this grew 
a necessary policy of Federal interference which added 
to the bitterness existing between the opposing ele- 
ments. General Grant, as President, was always anxious 
to change this order of things, and make the relations 
natural and pleasant ; and I believe that the South now 
fully recognizes and does justice to his motives. 

" It is hard to answer a question as to what General 
Grant's prominent traits were. He was a constantly 



TOUCHING DIPLOMACY. 883 

growing man, and he developed new and unexpected 
power for every emergency. The fundamental elements 
of his character were his steady determination, his serene 
simplicity, his splendid force, his unwavering loyalty to 
his hio-h ideal, and his generous magnanimity. He was 
a constant surprise to his friends. I think I never knew 
a man with more sides to his character, and yet every new 
phase was in thorough harmony with the whole. He had 
strong likes and dislikes. His nature was singularly 
trustful when he had given a friend his confidence, but 
he would feel a vigorous energy of resentment when 
that confidence was betrayed. His anger did not last 
long, however, and he was always accessible to any ex- 
planation. When an explanation was impossible, his 
anger would cool down into contempt. He rarely kept 
it alive for any long period, and was without any feelings 

of revenge. 

- He was an entirely unostentatious man. At no time 
did he ever seem to appreciate his own greatness 
During the war his relations with the other Generals of 
the armv were characterized by the greatest and most un- 
selfish crenerosity. With him the war was not a struggle for 
personal glory but a definite desire to accomplish a great 
national end. When Sherman accepted terms of sur- 
render from Johnston, the government disapproved of 
them and sent Grant to supersede him. New terms 
were arranged which were more satisfactory to the 
nation, and in announcing the fact to the authorities at 
Washino-ton Grant said in his dispatch " Johnston has 
surrendered to Shermayir This is an illustration of the 
generosity of his character. Selfish advantage he never 

aimed for. , 

-During his civil career his judgment of the right 
policy to b'e pursued in moments of doubt and emergency 



884 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was always correct. A striking example of this was his 
veto of the inflation bill. The general sentiment of the 
Cabinet favored the approval of the bill. The discussion 
of the currency question had been a long and bitter one, 
and there was a great division in the Republican party 
as to the policy to be pursued. When the measure 
came to the President for action his best judgment was 
opposed to it, but the pressure brought upon him was 
very great and he finally announced to the Cabinet that 
he would approve it. Accordingly he prepared a message 
in which he endeavored to gfive reasons for this course 
and, a day or two before it was to be presented, he sent 
for me and read it to me. Having done so, he re- 
marked : ' The'more I have written upon this, the more I 
don't like it, and I have determined to veto the bill and 
am preparing a message accordingly.' 

" He had decided to rely upon his own judgment, and, 
as in other great emergencies, it did not fail him. He 
read his veto messac^e to the next Cabinet meeting and 
it was subsequently sent to Congress and to the country. 

" His action concerning the treaty of Washington 
and the Geneva tribunal furnishes two other illustra- 
tions of his firmness and readiness to yield to what 
he finally concluded was the better plan. When 
appointments for commissioners for the treaty of 
Washington were under discussion I suggested to him 
the advisability of appointing a Democrat and thus pre- 
vent the body from having a partisan complexion. At 
the first he did not recognize the importance of this and 
many of his close political friends advised him against it, 
but h(! finally saw that it would strengthen the dignity of 
the commission by making the appointments from a 
national instead of a party standpoint, and Judge Nelson 
was accordingly named. 



TOUCHING DIPLOMACY. 885 

" So in the appointment of an arbitrator to the 
Geneva tribunal the logic of the situation made Mr. 
Charles Francis Adams, who had been Minister to 
Eneland durinof the troubles which were to be arbi- 
tratcd, the most fit man to be named. General Grant 
had been greatly prejudiced against Mr, Adams, how- 
ever, and he was seriously disinclined to make the 
appointment. Mr. Adams was also bitterly opposed by 
many prominent Republicans who were close to Grant 
and the opposition was continuous and active. When 
the full situation was laid before the President, and it was 
explained to him that Mr. Adams had shown admirable 
discretion in his conduct of the leo^ation at London dur- 
ing the war and had, at much personal trial, sustained 
the dignity of the nation, he immediately recognized his 
claims to the honor and Mr. Adams was sent. 

" This readiness to alter a preconceived notion, when he 
was satisfied that he was in error, was always a strong 
trait of his character. He surrendered his prejudice 
against Mr. Evarts when Evarts was appointed counsel, 
in the same way. 

" General Grant did not take much interest in politics 
until after his election to the Presidency. Prior to that 
time he had paid little or no attention to questions of gov- 
ernment, but after he was elected he applied himself 
carefully to the study of them. He had a quick, alert 
mind, and he had the power of concentrating it upon any 
subject that interested him. He had voted for Buchanan 
in 1856, and after that time he seemed to take no interest 
in parties or candidates until he became active in civil life 
himself. He was in the habit of saying that ' his first 
attempt in politics was a great failure.' He did not read 
much, and he took no one as his historical model. He 
wrote tersely and well, and with great fluency, but the 



886 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

faculty of public speaking did not develop in him until 
after he had retired from the Presidency. To strangers, 
he did not talk much, and this created the impression 
that he was habitually reticent when quite the contrary 
was true. In conversation with friends whom he trusted, 
he talked with the greatest freedom. He was lavish 
in his expenditures, and he gave away a great deal 
of money in charity. For his family, he had the most 
supreme love and tenderness. He believed firmly in 
Christianity, and while President attended the Metropol- 
itan Church in Washington, of which Dr. Newman was 
the pastor. The moral side of every question always 
had its influence upon his conclusions. 

"I asked him once : 'General, in case we should get 
into another war, how about our armies ? ' " 

"'Well,' he said, 'we have the best men in the world to 
lead them. No three men living are more capable of lead- 
ing an army,' or conducing a campaign, than the men we 
have. There is a difference between fighting, and plan- 
ning and conducting a campaign ; but there are no three 
men living better fitted to plan a campaign, and to lead 
armies, than Sherman, Sheridan and Schofield.' 

" You ask : ' What position will General Grant take in 
the history of this country?' I hope that it will not be 
considered irreverent to say that Washington, Lincoln 
and Grant will be regarded as a political trinity — the one 
the founder, the second the liberator and the third the 
saviour of the United States. It is admirably illustrated 
in that medallion in which they are represented as the 
pater, the liberator and the sahator. Tlie work of each 
was necessary to the completion of the whole." 



CHAPTER LXVI 

GRANT AROUND THE WORLD. 

His desire for travel — Mr. Childs' parting hospitalities — The departure — Arrivi! at 
Liverpool — Reception in London by the Queen of England — Trip to the conti- 
nent — Among the working classes of Great Britain — Visit to the Paris Exhibition — • 
In Eg}-pt — Sight-seeing among the ancient tombs — To the Holy Land — In Con- 
stantinople — Grant and the Pope at Rome — Through Venice and Milan— To 
Holland — Grant's historic interview with Bismarck — With the Emperor of Rus- 
sia — At the Court of Vienna — Visit to King Alfonso of Spain — In India, China 
and Japan — Among the emperors — Homeward bound— Grand ovation of welcome 
at San Francisco. 

No one ever accused Grant of curiosity, and yet a de- 
sire to see everything for himself possessed him through 
life. Just as he expressed his own opinions in his own 
way, so he formed them, and for this purpose his per- 
ceptive faculties were keen, and lines of concentration 
deepened between his eyes every year. 

This peculiar mark gave, at times, an expression of 
scrutlnous intensity to his face, which, in commonplace 
features, would have been misjudged as inquisitiveness. 
Grant saw always for himself. Other eyes never did 
for him. In the field, the council chamber, and in gen- 
eral society this capacity demonstrated itself; and once 
seen, a face, a situation was never forgotten by the silent 
man of memory. 

To the common observer he saw nothinof. The truth 
is, he saw everything. Moreover, objects were limned 
upon his brain with wonderful correctness. There 
was no faltering in his conclusions as to what he saw. 
The celerity of his mental photography was amazing. 

(887) 



888 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

While the average observer was taking in a situation, he 
had absorbed its significance, decided upon it, and was 
ready for a new impression. 

Perhaps this accounted, in a measure, for his accuracy 
in movement upon the batde-field. Some of his hap- 
piest victories were wrung, so to speak, from present 
conditions of apparent faikire. He swept his eyes over 
the locale of vision, comprehended in a flash, and acted, 
as, for instance, at Fort Donelson, where at his order the 
left wing of his disordered army suddenly charged upon 
the rebel works, wresting a victory out of the enemy's 
victorious movement upon the right. This was the re- 
sult of lightning-like perception. 

"I will give my orders on the field," Grant was apt to 
say. That is, he would act dependent upon his concen- 
trated power of vision. 

Ears he had none, so far as cultivation went ; eyes he 
relied upon as his never-failing allies. To him music 
was a bore. The national hymns he recognized because 
they were dinned into his sense of hearing, repeated 
scores of times in his own honor all over the world. 
But he never could "turn a tune," and abominated the 
oratorio and opera, Sound was neglected in favor of 
sight. 

Grant seldom made mistakes in his observation. Per- 
ceptively he knew men and women, formed likes and 
dislikes quickly, and acted understandingly when State 
and social duties devolved upon him. He was never 
diffusive in thought or deed. His friendships, his tastes, 
his inclinations were few and strong. A false friend was 
hardest for him to bear, because his sympathies were in- 
tense, and trusting implicidy to his own judgment in 
choice, falsity was unexpected. He always doubted 
himself first when the hour came to doubt a friend. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 889 

Great and extraordinary experiences, in field and coun- 
cil, naturally strengthened and developed Grant's per- 
ceptive faculty, and when leisure came, after sixteen 
years of ceaseless action, he was well prepared to go 
abroad to observe other peoples, their institutions, and 
their novelties. 

He was as pleased in anticipation of his trip around 
the world as a school-boy. He talked it over with his 
friends ; he grew positively young before he started. 
He was o-oing on a tour of simple observation, than 
which nothine could have been more congenial. It had 
been one of the desires of his life. He had neither 
wish for nor expectation of formalities abroad ; indeed, 
the unprecedented attention bestowed upon him in every 
quarter of the civilized world, seemed altogether aston- 
ishing to him. He .said, in his own simple way, in re- 
sponse to one of the first complimentary addresses of- 
fered him in England : 

" I know that it is my country that is honored through 



me. 



Much to the surprise of those who had never seen the 
talkative phase of his many-sided character, he did his 
duty in the uncongenial way of speech-making and social 
entertainment wherever he was received ; but this was 
not his motive, neither his wish, in going from home. 

The parting compliments of his own country he ac- 
cepted with unfeigned pleasure. The demonstrations of 
friends seemed in keeping with his own delight in so 
pleasurable a tour. They were bidding him "God- 
speed " as he started on his holiday. 

" On the other side," said he, " I shall give myself up 
to sight-seeing." 

So he sailed away with his wife and son, and a com- 
pany of congenial friends ; simple man that he was in 



890 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

his tastes, withaut even a dress-coat in which to receive 
the greetings of kings and queens. 

As the guest of George W. Childs for a week prior 
to his departure from Philadelphia, he was the recipient 
of varied and dehghtful attentions. The hospitahties 
of prominent citizens were showered upon him. 

The Union League gave him a reception and he re- 




GRANT'S RECEPTION AT THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIEND, MR. GEO. W. CHILDS. 

viewed the First RTegiment National Guards. At the 
residence of his host the soldiers' orphans, wards of the 
State, received his greeting and advice. The old sol- 
diers and sailors, many of whom followed him in the 
East as well as in the West, paid their respects. Many 
of the most eminent men of the nation gathered to enjoy 
Mr. Childs' hospitality and say kind words of parting to 



AROUND THE WORLD. 



891 



the distinguished soldier and citizen. A reception at 
the house of his host was the most magnificent private 
entertainment ever given in the country. After a week 
of pleasure and preparation the morning of departure 
came, and about the board gathered distinguished men 
who had been his friends and aids both in peace and 
war. General Sherman, his great lieutenant in many 
battles, was by his side. Ex-Secretary Hamilton, who 
w^as equally near to him in the demands of peace made 



.1*^ 



}y-M^' 




GtNER.-^L OKANI sAII.I.Nl, 1ju\n N THE L'f.LAWARE UAY. 

upon him, was also there, with General Simon Cameron 
and a company in perfect keeping with this notable trio. 
After leaving Mr. Childs' roof-tre& he became the guest 
of the city, and Mayor Stokley, with the Councils and 
many friends, accompanied the departing General down 
the river to tlie Indiana. Thousands crowded the river- 
banks while the Magenta was steaming down the Dela- 
ware to the ship that was to bear him away. Thus 
Grant took his leave of friends and country from the 



892 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

hospitable city where "friends" dwell and many of the 
best of his life's friendships were made and held. 

Hard-won peace in his native land behind him, rest 
and pleasure awaiting him, in vigorous health, the illus- 
trious traveller gave himself up to pure enjoyment dur- 
ing the trip across the Atlantic. His fellow-passengers 
were amazed and delicfhted at his brilliant conversational 
powers. He came out from behind his cloak of silence, 
which he always wore in seasons of responsibility, and 
was as outspoken in thought and opinion as any of 
them. His friends beside him, his cigar between his 
lips, with no care for the day nor the morrow. Grant 
proved himself anything but the unsocial, taciturn man 
the world at laro^e believed him to be. 

That the military commander, of wide renown, was 
unprepared for an ovation upon landing on foreign 
shores, we take his own word for, from a letter addressed 
to Mr. Childs. He says : 

" But what was my surprise to find nearly all the 
shipping in port at Liverpool decorated with flags of 
all nations, and from the mainmast of each the flag of 
the Union most conspicuous. The docks were lined 
with as many of the population as could find standing- 
room, and the streets leading to our hotel w^ere 
packed." 

Like scenes, with more or less enthusiastic manifesta- 
tions of welcome, met the would-be quiet American every 
mile of his way, until the "sight-seeing," so joyously 
anticipated, was merged into the disappointing state of 
being seen. 

In two matters connected with Grant's sojourn among 
foreign nations, his countrymen found themselves hap- 
pily disappointed. He suddenly developed a faculty, 
almost a genius, for speech-making. He always said 



\ 



AROUND THE WORLD. 



893 



the right thing in the right place. At home his silence 
had passed into a proverb. Brief and to the point his 
efforts were on all occasions, but often singularly apt and 
graceful, with now and then a bit of humor cropping out, 
to the delight of those who had come to believe the reti- 
cent man of destiny had no fund of mirth in his nature. 

It was no trifling ordeal to be called upon to respond 
to the great and ready intellects of the earth at a mo- 
ment's notice ; but Grant bore it bravely, and did lasting 
honor to his country 
and countrymen, to 
whom he never failed 
to attribute the honors 
so lavishly bestowed 
upon him. Dinners — 
regal, municipal, social 
— dinners of every sort, 
were set before the 
American commander, 
whose gastronomic 
tastes were as simple 
as a child's. Recep- 
tions by the score, vis- 
its of ceremony^ mili- 
tary and civic displays, 
and every honorable 
attention that could be offered to a o-uest, he was the 
recipient of, accepting all in a quiet, dignified manner, 
responding appropriately, and remaining always the un- 
pretentious republican gentleman. 

In the matter of intelligently representing his country, 
also, Grant will be gratefully remembered. The vast 
and varied amount of information required to satisfy 
foreigners of note who took occasion to interview him 




AT SEA. 



894 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT.' 

as to the condition, resources, and prospects of the 
United States, was of itself a trial to an extraordinary 
brain. It is now well known no American ever went 
abroad better prepared to respond to intelligent minds 
in the matter of home interests. Grant had not only 
fought for them, he had been all his life a close student 
of agricultural and manufacturing 'affairs, and had made 
himself familiar with all matters connected with the com- 
mercial growth and welfare of his countrw Received 
enthusiastically by the working-classes of England, he 
was able to meet them on their own ground. They 
hailed him as a man of the people, and a representative 
American. 

Vast bodies of workino^-men and women demon- 
strated their admiration for him, not as a great and 
successful commander of armies, but as "a sincere 
friend of labor." He, in return, expressed much satis- 
faction in the opportunities afforded to observe for him- 
self the workings of English labor systems. 

Grant made the most of his golden occasions while 
abroad. Wherever great statesmen were to be seen, 
there inclination led him. His conferences with Bis- 
marck and Gambetta are features for history. 

He avowed himself as having been, favored beyond 
men. during his memorable sojourn abroad, not because 
he was the guest of royal personages, but that he was 
allowed the privilege of meeting with great and potent 
minds. 

Greatness of mere birth or place failed of impression. 
Grant avoided all unnecessary display. He shrank 
from military pageants devised for his pleasure, or in his 
honor, escaping into the homely by-ways of foreign 
places whenever he could consistendy do so. " The 
ordinary things I can only find out for myself," he said. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 



895 



On a fair May morning (the 28th) the Indiana, after 
a somewhat rough voyage, arrived at Liverpool. Gen- 
eral Grant had proven himself a good sailor. He was 
physically at his best and his spirits were undiminished. 
He was all eacrerness for the continuance oi his foreiorn 
journey. At Oueenstown, where a tug boarded the 
steamship, a large mail aw^aited him, many of the letters 
being from leading statesmen of England, conveying 
invitations to a round of festivities in his honor. At 
this point he was met 
by J. Russell Young ) 
(whose charming jour- 
nalistic letters will ever 
be connected with this 
trip around the world) 
and a deputation of 
prominent citizens. At 
Liverpool flags floated \| 
from the shipping, and ^ V 
the mayor waited to ^ 
extend to the illustri- 
ous American the cour- 
tesies of the great city, 
saying : " I am proud 
that it has fallen to my 
lot, as chief maeistrate 
of Liverpool, to welcome to the shores of England so 
distinguished a citizen of the United States. You have, 
sir, stamped your name on the history of a world by 
your brilliant career as a soldier, and still more as a 
statesman in the interests of peace." 

This was the first of a long series of complimentary 
formalities which awaited General Grant in every im- 
portant city in England. 




ARRIVAL AT LIVERPOOL. 



896 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

At Manchester the party was met by members of 
ParHament and other dignitaries. Here the General 
was the guest of the mayor, and every opportunity was 
afforded him to inspect the celebrated manufactories of 
the place, in which he evinced the keenest interest. 

From city to city the journey of the would-be quiet 
traveller was filled with surprises. Tlie very unexpect- 
edness of the situation was favorable to his enjoyment 
of the continuous ovation. It is to be doubted if Grant 
would ever have consented to such a foreign experience 
had it been made koown to him in advance. It was cer- 
tainly a revelation to Americans at home, and has hardly, 
to this day, come to be understood by man\-. 

Immediately upon his arrival in London he met the 
Prince of Wales at the Oaks at Epsom. The Duke of 
Wellington entertained him at dinner at Apsley House. 
Dean Stanley made known his presence in England in a 
sermon in W^estminster Abbey. The American minis- 
ter, Mr. Pierrepont, gave a reception in his honor in 
Cavendish Square, which was attended by leading rep- 
resentatives of both parties. Among those present 
were the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Leeds and the 
Duke of Beaufort, the Marquis of SaHsbury, the Mar- 
quis of Hertford, Earl Derby, Earl Shaftesbury, John 
Bright, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Houghton, the Marquis of 
Ripon, the Marquis of Lome and a throng of represen- 
tatives of English social life. There was a dinner given 
to him by Lord Caernarvon. He was presented at court, 
and Queen Victoria showed him graceful attention. At 
a reception given by Consul-General Badeau large num- 
bers of the nobility were present and many persons of 
eminence in the world of art and letters. He dined 
with Lord Granville, and upon the follow'ing evening 
with Sir Charles Dilke. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 



897 



After the General's return from a visit to his daughter, 
Mrs. Sartoris, at Southampton, there was a renewal of 
festivities, and one of the most important events con- 
nected with his visit to London took place — the confer- 
ring upon him of the " freedom of the city." No higher 
honor than this remains to be proffered by this ancient 
and honorable corporation. Great ceremony attends 
this presentation. Hundre-fls of guests sat down to the 




GRANl' MEETING THE PRINCE OF WALES. 

magnificent banquet of the occasion. It was here, in 
response to a speech of welcome, that General Grant 
expressed himself in these memorable words : 

" Although a soldier by education and profession, I 
have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have 
never advocated it, except as a means of peace." 

Entertainments followed each other like a ceaseless 

3G 



898 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

panoramic display: a dinner at the Crystal Palace, a 
dinner given by the Princess Louise and the Marquis of 
Lome, at the Kensington Palace, and, on the following 
day, one by Mr. Morgan, the banker. Mr. Smalley, of 
the New York Tribune, entertained the General at 
breakfast. There were present Matthew Arnold, Robert 
Browning, A. W. Kinglake, Anthony Trollope, Professor 
"Huxley, Thomas Hughes and other eminent and noted 

persons. Lord Gran- 
ville crave a dinner 
at the Reform Club, 
at which General 
Grant said : "Never 
have I lamented so 
much as now my 
poverty in phrases 
— my inability to 
j\ give due expression 
of my affection for 
;' the mother coun- 
■'" try." 

The General dined 

with the Prince of 

Wales at >L^rlbor- 

ough House, and on 

^^ v^—c^=^-^ •■-;='* the 27th of June with 

GRANT'S RECEPTION AT AMERICAN LEGATION, j-j-j^ QueeU at Wiud- 

sor Casde. He met at dinner, at the Grosvenor 
Hotel, many of the prominent journalists of London, 
an opjjortunity afforded to few Americans, not ot the 
" ilk," and one thoroughly appreciated by the hon- 
ored guest. The United Service Club gave a dinner 
to the General, " to meet the officers of the army and 
navy," the Duke of Cambridge presiding. An immense 




_,^553^< 



.^. 







AROUND THE WORLD. 899 

reception took place at the American Embassy on the 
4th of July, at which laro-e numbers of resident Ameri- 




ALBERT EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES. 

cans were present, General and Mrs. Grant holding a 
levee which savored of the characteristics of their 




v900) 



AROUND THE WORLD. 901 

republican home. Beside these festal occasions men- 
tioned, many others of more or less private nature oc- 
curred to add to the novel brilliancy of the American's 
tour abroad. From London to the Continent every step 
of the way was accompanied with welcoming honors ; 
and, arriving at Brussels, the traveller was met at his 
hotel by King Leopold, of Belgium, for whom he formed 
the warmest friendship, and of whose character and 
intellect he had the most exalted opinion. 

Through Switzerland his progress was still an ovation, 
during which he found time to enjoy the scenery of that 
picturesque land and to observe the customs of its 
people. Thence he proceeded to the war-affected 
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. 

Grant was not lacking in a keen sense of the beautiful 
and romantic in nature, although few persons, even 
amone his near friends, o-ave him credit for sentiment 
beyond that of the natural home affections. His de- 
scription, graphic and appreciative, of a certain pictur- 
esque portion of East Tennesee recurs to me. \^isiting 
the spot afterward, his power of quick and sure observ- 
ation, and his keen sense of the grand and beautiful in 
landscape, were readily accorded to him who has been 
rated as among the most prosaic of men. 

Through Scotland, where the " freedom " of the great 
cities was presented to him, and incessant attentions 
pressed upon his acceptance on every hand. General 
Grant continued his journey, leaving little of interest 
unvisited by the way. He was the guest of the Duke 
of Argyle at Inverary, where a sincere and lasting 
friendship was cemented between the two remarkable 
men. He visited the ancient homes of his earliest an- 
cestry, and the Hicjhlanders greeted him with song and 
bumper as their clansman. 



y02 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

In dwelling upon his tour through Great Britain, 
Grant commonly spoke of his visits to the manufacturing 
districts as the most significant and interesting of his 
experiences. He was received enthusiastically by the 
workingmen. Personally, they looked upon him as one 
of themselves, and the position to which he had attained 
in statesmanship and socially (an honored guest of the 
aristocracy of the world) aroused their profoundest 
respect and admiration for his force of character, as well 
as serving to suggest a possible bond of true unity be- 
tween the widely-severed classes of their own countr}-. 
At Newcastle, Sunderland, Sheffield and Birmingham, 
thousands of workmen and women thronged the streets 
and wharves for a glimpse of the ex-President. At 
Newcastle nearly eighty thousand people were present 
at an out-door demonstration. Processions, resolutions, 
addresses, greeted him everywhere, as he went among 
the laboring men. In an address presented him in the 
name of the workinir-classes of Northumberland and 
Durham, he was greeted in this wise : 

" In those hard-fought battles, in which your great 
abilities as a soldier were displayed, you had the entire 
sympathy of the working classes of England." And 
also in the same address : " Thougii you are skilled in 
the art of war we are pleased to regard you as a man 
of peace ; but the peace which commands your s) m- 
pathy must be founded on the eternal laws of equity 
and justice. Having attested again and again your 
deep solicitude for the industrial classes, and having also 
nobly proclaimed the dignity of labor by breaking the 
chains of the slave, you are entitled to our sincere and 
unalloyed gratitude." 

It is noteworthy to observe that Grant was received 
by the aristocracy of England as the great military man 



AROUND THE WORLD. 



903 



of modern times ; by the laborers of the kingdom, as 
the representative of peace. A two-fold character, of 
unusual and universal power. 

The monarchists and imperialists of France were 
pleased to be displeased with the Ex-President of the 
United States. During the Franco-Prussian war his 
sympathies had been defined, in so far as he guarded 
watchfully, through his minister, Mr. Washburne, the in- 




GRAXD HOTEL— THE HEAD QUAKXKRb EUK AJMERICAXS IN PARIS. 

terests of the German residents intrusted to his care. 
Upon his arrival in Paris he became, naturally, the 
guest of Marshal MacMahon, an event which added 
fuel to the fire of imperial feeling following a republican 
victory. 

There was no political significance attached to Grant's 
trip abroad, but the enemies of republican government 



904 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in France chose to consider it in that hght, and even 
after death lay their bit q{ riie upon the bier of the crreat 
General. 

The American colony in Paris extended a hearty wel- 
come to their illustrious compatriot. Festivities followed 
fast, one upon another ; among them a notable dinner 
given by the entire colony, presided over by General 
Noyes, the American minister. Here were met, amono- 




Ol.M K \1. 'jKA.\ 1 \ L-l !■.-> THK i,.\KI)i:.\- 



iVAL, PARIS. 



many eminent persons, Emile Girardin. Fdmond About, 
and Laboulaye. A superb entertainment was given by 
Madame Mackay. of California, one by the aristocratic 
Marquis Talleyrand-Perigord, a descendant of the great 
Talleyrand, and one by M. Laugal, at which General 
Grant was made acquainted with the Count of Paris. 
A meeting with M. Gambetta was arranged. It was of 
mutual pleasure and intc^rcst. Grant recurred to it as 



AROUND THE WORLD. vJ05 

one of the important events of his visit to the old world, 
speaking of the French leader as " one of the foremost 
minds of Europe." 

The party of tourists remained long- enough in Paris 
to ransack most of the public and many of the private 
treasures of the beautiful and interesting city. Grant 
was tireless in sight-seeing. As one of his friends said: 
" He had a persistent way of getting at things which he 
was desirous of seeing." 

His linguistic qualities were not largely developed; 
his life had been too busy for such accomplishments ; 
but he managed to make himself understood, as he had 
made himself effective in greater scenes — bvusinsf others 
in a masterly manner. His comprehensive vision served 
him far better than his guides. 

Until he was ready to quit France, he had not deter- 
mined to extend his tour to India, China and Japan ; but 
while at Pau he received letters from General Sherman 
and Rear-Admiral Ammen which determined him, from 
pure personal reasons, to extend his tour. It was cur- 
rent gossip at the time that this action was influenced by 
the politicians who desired to keep him out of the coun- 
try until just before the campaign of 1880. The auto- 
graph letter here produced in fac simile shows how 
groundless this assumption was. 

In December the party left for the south of France, 
embarking on the man-of-war Vandalia, placed at his 
disposal by the American government. 

Warmly received at Naples, the trip was continued 
through Italy. Every possible object of interest was 
visited by the indefatigable sight-seer. He ascended 
Vesuvius, and witnessed an excavation at Pompeii. The 
scenery, the costumes of the people, their houses and 
modes of life, even the beggars, were studied, and laid 










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V^*^'*^ 



910 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



away for future reference and interest by the man of 
memory. There never hved a man who could make 
himself more impersonal in studying others. Grant was 
mental absorption itself; the process was a delight, and 
he knew well how to utilize the material absorbed. At 
the stronghold of Malta, before which the Vandalia 
anchored, a salute was fired, which brought on board the 
Duke of Edinburgh. This visit was followed by an in- 
vitation to his royal highness' palace of San Antonio, 




i' i \ 

GENERAL GRANT MEETING THE DUKE Or EDINBURGH. 

where the duke and duchess received the American 
party. Every possible military honor was bestowed 
upon the General at this point. 

Egypt was next visited. The Khedive received the 
party with great ceremony, a palace in Cairo was oftered 
to General Grant, and a special conveyance up the Nile 
placed at his disposal. 

This trip was made about the middle of January. 
The party was composed of the General, Mrs. Grant 










Oil) 



912 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



and their youngest son Jesse, ex-Secretary Borie, of 
Philadelphia, three officers of the Yandalia and the 
correspondent, John Russell Young. An officer of the 
Khedive's household. Sami Bey, a Circassian gentleman, 
who spoke English fluently, accompanied the expedi- 




GRANTS Vlbir ru I'HE KHEDIVE OF EGYPT. 

tion ; also Mr. Emile Brugsch, one of the learned 
directors of the Egyptian museum. 

"What a blank our trip would be without Brugsch ! " 
the General is reported to have exclaimed, as he stood 
surveying, behind his cigar, an ancient ruin. 




KIRDS-EYE VIKW OK EGYPT. bHOVVlNG PLACES VIbl 1 KU bV C-1 NEKAL GRAM 



3H 



(913) 



914 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

To be baffled by an undecipherable inscription must 
have been intolerable to Grant's persistent nature. Mr. 
Brugsch knew every temple, tomb and ruin in the land, 
and proved invaluable to the curious travellers. Life 
for three weeks on the Nile vessel was restful as well as 
novel. Nothing escaped the General's notice, and 
wherever a landing was interesting and possible he 
went ashore. At the town of Siout, the capital of Upper 
Egypt, demonstrations of welcome were made, and the 
vice-consul, a rich Syrian, received the party in true 
Oriental fashion. An Arab entertainment was given 
at his house which was attended by all the Americans, 
except General Grant, in full uniform. A disjjlay of 
fireworks and torches illuminated the narrow streets of 
the town, and a multitude of the people followed the 
visitors to the river bank as they took their departure. 
The next landing was at Gir^el, where the General was 
eager to view the temple of Abydos on the edge of the 
Libyan desert. Brugsch declared this to be " the cradle, 
the fountain head of all the civilization of the world." 
This temple stands partly buried among the ruins of the 
oldest city in Eo^ypt. 

The town of Keneh was next visited, and the pottery 
manufactories inspected. Here the General was enter- 
tained by the pacha, who governs the province and lives 
in oriental splendor. The cups provided lor his i^uests 
were said to be "of the finest porcelain, in cases of gold 
and silver;" the pipes offered having "stems ot amber 
thickly garnished with diamonds." 

The expedition continued on to Luxor, where a recep- 
tion was prepared by the Arabian vice-consul. Here 
the party remained several days, visiting the ancient 
temples and ruins, and the famed statues of Memnon. 
From there Karnak was visited, the party making the 



AROUND THE WORLD. 915 

tiip on donkeys. The walls of the famous temple of 
Karnak are covered with inscriptions in hieroglyphic 
lancruao-e, stories of battles, and the glories of the king 




ihoiPLt OF IPSAMBUL-VISITED BY GENERAL GRANT. 

Rameses, all of which Mr. Brugsch was called upon to 
decipher for the General, who evinced the greatest in- 
terest At Assouan, the frontier station of Old Egypt, 



916 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the vessel was turned again toward Cairo, the travellers 
landing here and there, as objects along the shore 
attracted their attention, and on the 3d of Februar)' they 
reached Memphis, Here the ruins were inspected, and 
the tourists proceeded to Cairo, where friends awaited 
them. 

On the 15th of the following month the General 
re-embarked on the Vandalia for his trip to the Holy 
Land. 

After a stormy passage the vessel arrived at Jaffa. 
The town was decorated in honor of Grant's coming, 
and the American consul received the party at his own 
house. Some hours were spent in sight-seeing at this 
point, and preparations were made to go to Jerusalem. A 
distance of forty miles was to be travelled over, and the 
only conveyances to be secured for the journey were 
three springless wagons, without tops to shield the 
occupants from the sun. 

Grant's good nature under all difficulties passed into 
a proverbial saying. He clambered — his cigar between 
his teeth — into his seat, and jolted along over the 
irregular roads, apparently enjoying every mile of the 
way. The first stop was made at Ramleh. The rain 
poured in torrents, and the travellers were glad of 
shelter and supper. At seven in the morning they 
were again e7i route for the holy city. At this point the 
General was provided with a horse and managed to 
make the rest of the journey in comparative comfort. 

Mr. Russell Young tells us " that an escort of lepers " 
insisted upon accompanying the wagons, much to the 
dismay of the occupants, and they were glad to hurry 
away from them. 

After leaving the " plain of Sharon," the way leads 
into the "country of Joshua and Samson." One of the 
party describes it as follows ; 



AROUND THE WORLD. 



917 



"The road becomes rough and stony, and we who 
are in the carts go bumping, thumping along over the 
very worst road, periiaps, in the world. But there is no 
one who, in the spare moments when he is not holding 
on to the sides of the cart lest there might be too pre- 









\ 




INTERIOR OF PORTICO OF THE TEiMPLE AT DENDERAH, EGYPT. 

cipitate an introduction to the Holy Land, does not feel, 
so strong are the memories of childhood, that it is one 
of the most comfortable trips ever made. We are com- 
ing into the foot-hills. We are passing into the country 
of rocks. The summits of the hills elisten with the white 



918 UFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

shining stone, which afar off looks hlce snow. In some 
of the valleys we note clusters of olive trees. The 
fertility of Palestine lies in the plain below. Around 
and ahead is the beauty of Palestine — the beauty of 
nature in her desolation. No houses, no farms, no trace 
of civilization but the telegraph poles. The hills have 
been washed bare by centuries of neglect, and terraced 
slopes that were once rich with all the fruits of Pales- 
tine are sterile and abandoned." 

The General remarked that "the valley seemed the 
richest he had ever seen ; " and he believed " that the 
plain of Sharon alone, under good government and 
tilled by such labor as could be found in America, would 
raise wheat enough to feed all that portion of the 
Mediterranean." 

The ruins of Gezer — once a royal city of Canaan — 
passed, most of the party left the wagons and proceeded 
on foot, hoping to enter the city gates at sundown. Be- 
yond them, half hidden by the mist, lay Joshua's "Valley 
of Ajalon ; " they passed through the scene of the con- 
flict between David and Goliath, and finally paused on 
the banks of the " very brook where David found his 
pebbles for his sling." Here a line of trooi)s was drawn 
up awaiting Grant's approach — representatives from 
the consulates and from the pacha — and a throng of 
Americans, all impatient, eager and demonstrative. 

Here again, through this region of sacred veneration, 
Grant's progress was an ovation. 1 lis dismay was im- 
mense when he discovered that the city of Jerusalem 
could not be entered without demonstrations in his 
honor. Flags were floating, inscriptions raised, and a 
long line of cavalry escorted die dragomans of all na- 
tions picturesquely attired. To the sound of martial 
music and the loud acclamations of the people, General 




(010) 



920 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Grant entered Jerusalem, " seated upon the pacha's own 
white Arab steed, in housinfrs of gold." Multitudes of 
people pressed along the highways to do him honor, and, 
later, the dignitaries of the place assembled to serve him 
with hospitality in true Turkish fashion. 

The party were quartered at the one comfortable 
hotel in Jerusalem, but the quarters were of minor im- 
portance to the indefatigable sight-seers, who were con- 
stantly moving about the countr)- from one interesting 
point to another ; the General well mounted on horse- 
back, Mrs. Grant satisfied with a patient, reliable 
donkey. 

The distinguished travellers did not escape the usual 
ceremonious attentions in the Holy City ; these were 
persistently pressed upon them. The pacha enter- 
tained them, and insisted upon "sending his band of 
fifty pieces and a large guard of honor, to be in constant 
attendance." This well-meant attention the General de- 
clined resolutely, but he was obliged to attend state 
dinners, and accept such marks of hospitality as the 
pacha felt inclined to bestow upon him and his party 
during their brief stay. 

Escaping from ceremony the visitors walked over the 
sacred places within the Holy City, following, with feel- 
ings of reverence, the footsteps of the Christ, by the 
brook Kedron, to the Garden of Gethsemane " without 
the gates," and up the \ ia Dolorosa, which leads to the 
hill of Calvar)-. 

The narrator of the party says : 

"The good monks gathered some Howers for Mrs. 
Grant, and for the others twigs and leaves from the 
Tree of Agony " — the tree beneath which Jesus knelt 
and prayed, making "holy forever the Garden of Geth- 
semanr." 



AROUND THE liOA'/.D. 921 

Visits were mackt to Bethlehem, Bethany and other 
places. 

From Jerusalem the tourists travelled norihward to 
Damascus, passing- through Nazareth and across the 
great plain of Esdraelon, the battle-field of Palestine. 
The route lay by the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias, Lake 
Huleh, Philippi and Mount Hermon. The sojourn at 
Damascus was brief. By the 5th of March Constanti- 
nople was reached. Here the General was formally re- 
ceived by the Sultan, who expressed great pleasure in 
meeting the "distinguished American." As evidence 
of his cordial feeling he ordered the master of cere- 
monies to present the General with a pair of beautiful 
Arabian horses from the imperial stables. 

The writer well remembers hearing General Grant 
tell of the Sultan's presentation of these animals. He 
was sitting with General Simon Cameron, relatinor to 
him many of the interesting incidents of his tour, when 
one of the party asked him about these Arab horses. 
He then spoke of their wonderful powers of endurance 
and said that his attention had been attracted to them 
by the ease with which they travelled long distances 
with heavy loads. He had, therefore, had a great desire 
to see the famous stables of the Sultan, which contained 
the rarest of these horses. 

"After my visit to the Sultan was over," said General 
Grant, " a member of the royal household was deputed 
by his majesty to show us the points of interest about 
the palace and its surroundings. In due time we reached 
the royal stables where a large number of these horses 
were kept, and the official of the government who was 
accompanying us asked me which two of the liorses in 
the whole stable I liked best. I had looked them over 
carefully, and my fancy had been caught by tlie two that 



922 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

were finally sent to America. After I had expressed my 
preference, he said : ' I am directed by the Sultan to pre- 
sent them to you.' 

"I was very much taken aback and expressed my re- 
gret at my inability to accept them, or to get them to my 
own country if I should. The Turkish official and 
others acquainted with the customs of that country ex- 
plained to me that it would not do for me to refuse them. 
It would be regarded by the Sultan as a direct and un- 
pardonable affront to himself to refuse, which no ex- 
planation of mine could satisfy. This being made clear, 
I accepted with expressions of pleasure. 

"As good luck would have it, just at that moment an 
American vessel was in the port of Constantinople, loaded 
with arms brought from the United States for Turkey, 
which was then engaged in war with Russia, Arrange- 
ments were made to ship these horses upon that vessel. 
This was done, and in due time they arrived in this coun- 
try and were turned over to my friend General Beale." 

Among the many notable visits made to the General 
was that of Sir Austen Henry Layard, the British am- 
bassador, famed as an archaeologist, as well as traveller 
and diplomatist. 

From Constantinople the tourist proceeded to Greece. 
At Athens a grand reception awaited him. The king 
and queen gave a fete, which was attended by all the 
celebrities of the country — an opportunity to study the 
higher social characteristics of the romantic land not 
lost upon the feted guest. 

General Grant's visit to Rome occurred just after the 
election of Leo XIII. The excitement consequent to 
the change of pontiffs had died away, and the time was 
propitious for an interview with the highest dignitary of 
the Catholic Church. This was accomplished through 




(923) 



924 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the kindness of his reverence Cardinal McCloskey, the 
representative prelate of the Catholics in the United 
States. Grant expressed the greatest satisfaction in 
connection with this meeting. King Humbert paid ever)- 
possible courtesy to his republican guest, and, as every- 
where, opportunities were pressed upon him to take ad- 
vantage of the pleasures and hospitalities of the city. 




kLlNs t)i I 111. ACKol'uLlS, ATHI..N. — VISITKD 1!V GKNTRAL GRANT. 

After visiting V^enice and Milan, where the most flat- 
tering attentions were bestowed. Grant visited the Paris 
l^xhibition. On the 7th of May the party arrived, re- 
maining about three weeks — a period of constant social 
festivity and unrcmiiting sight-seeing on the part of the 
General. 

A visit to restful Holland f()llow(Hl. Hr-re the trav- 




id-IO) 



926 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

eller, with his stoHd face and manner, his endless clouds 
of cigar smoke, his calm appreciation of the hearty atten- 
tions bestowed upon him, was a great favorite. At Am- 
sterdam a magnificent banquet was given him by the 
merchants of tlv* ^it^'. It was attended h\- all the dieni- 




PRINCE BISMARCK. 

taries of the city. His speeches, terse and to the point, 
were pronounced models. 

The important event of Grant's visit to Prussia, which 
followed his departure from Holland, was his meeting 



w 



ith F 



rmce 



Bis 



marc 



k. This statesman was amonq- the 



AROUND THE WORLD. 



927 



first of the eminent personao-es to call upon the ex- 
President. An interview between the two o^reat men 
took place on the followingr day at Bismarck Palace, the 
residence of the famous diplomat. The prince met 
Grant upon the threshold, extending both hands in 
heartv welcome, savinor: 




INTEKVIKW BEIWEEN GENERAL UKAM A.NL) i^Kl.NCE JJISMAKCK. 

" Glad to welcome General Grant to Germany." 

The General replied : 

"There is no incident in my German tour more inter- 
esting to me than this opportunity of meeting Prince 
Bismarck." 

And so these two world-renowned men sat toorether 







P^^^MttlMIi^ 



liiltiiii 

'Uiiiiifiiijiiill 



WrVlifftJ-trt, /.-,' 



tinnier iisui ,i,., 



1 3, 




iUWN HALL, HLKl L\ — VLSITHI) L'V GLNKRAL GK/vA i . 



AROUND THE WORLD. 929 

in the librar)^ of the Prussian, an open window before 
them looking into a beautiful park lending its cheerful- 
ness to the informal interview. The room itself was 
rich but simply furnished. Bismarck carried on his con- 
versation in Entrlish, which he has mastered. 

Among the complimentary expressions of Bismarck 
he took occasion to present the regrets of the Emperor 
of Germany, who was under his doctor's orders to see 
no one. This was just after the attempt at assassination 
upon the old emperor's life. " He commands me to 
say," Bismarck said, " that nothing else should prevent 
his seeing you," 

Many questions in regard to the late American war 
on the part of the prince, asseveradons as to good feeling 
between the two countries, interspersed with cordial 
personal remarks, constituted the interview. Grant 
afterward expressed himself as having experienced one 
of the greatest pleasures of his life in this meeting with 
the famous statesman, for whom he had so long held a 
favorable opinion. Bismarck called, the day after his 
interview with the General, upon Mrs. Grant. 

Hospitalities of every sort were proffered the Ameri- 
can in Berlin. Not a moment of his time was left un- 
occupied. Physically, the subject of these attentions 
seemed able to cope with a world. He grew younger 
and fresher, apparently, as his romantic tour continued 
through Denmark, Norway and Sweden into Russia. 

At St. Petersburg his imperial highness, Alexander, 
granted an audience to the General, and at the royal 
meeting introduced Prince Gortschakoff, with whom 
Grant afterward held many pleasant conferences. 

During the interview between the ex-president and 
the emperor, the latter said, pressing the hand ot his 
guest warmly : 

31 



930 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" Since the foundation of your government the rela- 
tions between Russia and America have been of the 
friendhest character, and as long- as I live nothing shall 
be spared to continue that friendship." 

The General replied that although the two govern • 
ments were directly opposite in character, the great 
majority of the American people were in sympathy with 
Russia, and would, he hoped, so continue. 




ST. PETERSBURG— REVIEW IN HONOR OF GENERAL GRANT 

All the pomp and splendor of court ceremony (so 
pre-eminently magnificent in the Russian realm) was 
heaped upon the simple, imperturbable American. It is 
not chronicled of him that he ever committed Tifaiix pas, 
or blundered into difficulty in the face of foreign custom. 
Grant under all circumstances was simply natural. 

The Grand I hike Alexis took occasion to jiay especial 
attention to tin- Ciciu-ral, whose o-uest he was durino- his 



AROUND THE WORLD. 931 

visit to the United States, An imperial yacht was placed 
at the disposal of the distinguished visitor to Russia, and 
a delightful trip was made to Peterhoff — the Versailles 
of St. Petersburg, A visit was also made to the Russian 
man-of-war Peter the Great, where the General re- 
ceived a salute of twenty-one guns. Every possible 
social attention was paid to him during his brief stay, 
the Czarowitz giving him special audience, and the 
French ambassador a dinner in his honor. There was 
also a review of the fire brigade of the city for his es- 
pecial benefit. Dinners, banquets and balls followed 
each other in quick succession, as in all the great cities 
throuo^h which the travellers hastened. 

On the 8th of August the tourists proceeded to 
Moscow, the old capital of Russia. They travelled over 
the famous straight-line railroad, built by two American 
contractors, Messrs. Winans, of Baltimore, and Harrison, 
of Philadelphia, a distance of four hundred miles, John 
Russell Young says of this remarkably direct road: 

"When the eng-ineers had devised their line, with its 
gradients, it had certain inclinations to the right and left, 
so that the iron road should tap some of the adjacent 
towns between the new and the old capitals. When 
the map was shown to Nicholas he simply shook his 
head." He would have no such twisting road in his 
dominions ! Taking a ruler, he placed it between Mos- 
cow and St, Petersburg, drew with a pen a red line as 
straight as could be between the two points, remarking, 
" Make your road so as to follow precisely this tracing. 
A straight line is the shortest distance between two 
points, and that is all there is about it. Good-day, 
gentlemen," 

The carriages used on this road are of superior 
American make. One of the handsomest was placed at 




(932) 



AROUND THE WORLD. 933 

the disposal of General Grant. A large throncr of Rus- 
sian officers and civilians, as well as Americans, were 
in attendance at the station when the General reached 
Moscow. He was greeted with cheers and enthusiastic 
demonstrations of welcome. Every opportunity was 
afforded him to see the city, which is beautifully adorned 
with trees and gardens, and contains a number ot mag- 
nificent churches, and several gorgeous palaces. The 
General remained several days sight-seeing before taking 
his departure for Warsaw in Russian Poland. Here the 
party rested a few days before starting for Vienna, which 
place was reached on the i8th of August. Minister 
Kasson received the General at the station, accompanied 
by all the secretaries and attaches of the American le- 
gation. On the 20th of August there was an audience 
with his imperial hii^^hness. Francis Joseph, at the Palace 
of Schoenbrunn. The following day the General and 
Mrs. Grant dined with the imperial family. On the 2 2d 
a grand diplomatic dinner was given by the American 
minister, followed by a recepdon and ball. Every point 
of interest was visited in the city, and the party left for 
Munich, the capital of Bavaria, highly delighted with 
Vienna. 

Several days were passed in viewing Munich and its 
wonderful art treasures. A day w^as spent at Augsburg, 
from which place the tour was continued through Ulm 
into Switzerland. There was a brief sojourn at both 
Schaffhausen and Zurich. From this point General 
Grant proceeded to Paris by way of Lyons. At Bor- 
deaux the party remained long enough to partake of its 
hospitalities, which were generously proffered. One of 
them said : 

*' Bordeaux gave us the idea of being one of the most 
prosperous cities we had visited; as the centre of a vast 



934 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

agricultural interest, controlling a product of great value, 
it has done its best to take advantage of the situation, 
and kept its commercial supremacy." 

At Bordeaux General Grant received a message from 
his majesty, the King of Spain, who was at that time with 
his troops at Vittoria. The message requested the honor 
of a visit from the distinguished American traveller, and 
the General prepared without delay to respond to so 
high and courteous a compliment. " It was the inten- 
tion of General Grant when he left Paris," says Mr. 
Young in his correspondence, "to make a short visit to 
the Pyrenees, and especially Pau. 

" When General Grant reached Vittoria there were all 
the authorities out to see him, and he was informed that 
in the mornino- Kino- Alfonso would meet him. Ten 
o'clock was the hour, and the place was a small city hall 
or palace, where the king resides w^hen he comes into 
his capital. At ten the General called, and was escorted 
into an ante-room where were several aides and generals 
in attendance. He passed into a small room, and was 
greeted by the king. The room was a library, with 
books and a writing-table covered with papers, as though 
his majesty had been hard at work. When the Gen- 
eral entered, the king gave him a seat and they entered 
into conversation. There was a little fencing as to 
whether the conversation should be in English or Span- 
ish. The General said he knew Spanish in Mexico, but 
thirty-five years had passed since it was familiar to him, 
and he would not venture upon it now. The king was 
anxious to speak Spanish, but English and Erench were 
the only languages used. At eleven o'clock General 
Grant, King Alfonso, and a splendid retinue of generals 
left the kingr's official residence to witness the manoeuvres 
which were to take place on the historic field of Vittoria, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 935 

where the French, under Joseph Bonaparte and Jourdan, 
were finally crushed in Spain by the allies under Wel- 
lington on June 21, 181 3. 

" King Alfonso and General Grant rode at the head 
of the column, side by side, his majesty pointing out 
the objects of interest to the right and the left ; and, 
when the vicinity of the famous field was reached, halt- 
ing for a few^ minutes to indicate to his guest the loca- 
tion of the different armies on that famous June morning. 
As they proceeded thence, General Concha was called 
to the side of the king and introduced to General Grant. 
Several other distinguished officers were then presented. 
The weather was very fine, and the scene was one of 
great interest to the American visitor. General Grant 
spent the day on horseback, witnessing the manoeuvres." 

On the following day a grand review was held in his 
honor. The king had expressed himself as very curious 
to see General Grant, and was pleased that their meet- 
ing had been at Vittoria. Dinners, receptions and 
other social festivities were given in the General's 
honor before his departure for Madrid, which occurred 
on the 28th of October. At this place he was met by 
our minister, James Russell Lowell, who was ac- 
companied by Colonel Nolli, a Spanish officer of dis- 
tinction, detailed to attend him, A dinner and recep- 
tion was given to General Grant, and crowds visited him 
to pay their respects. There was a dinner at the 
presidency of the council, the first state dinner given 
since the young queen's death. In Madrid there were 
the picture galleries to be visited, the royal palace and 
the royal stables, and many places of interest and 
novelty to the Americans. The General had a satis- 
factory interview with Castelar, whom he had expressed 
himself as most eager to meet. 



936 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General Grant and his party visited the Palace of the 
Escurial, just outside of the city. "This mammoth 
edifice, second only to the pyramids of Egypt in size and 
solidity, was commenced by Philip II., to fulfil a vow- 
made to San Lorenzo, that if the batde of St, Quentin, 
which was fought on the saint's day, should result 
favorably to him, he would erect a temple to his honor ; 
and also to obey the injunctions of his father, the 
Emperor Charles V., to construct a tomb worthy of the 
royal family, and most magnificently did he carry out 
both purposes." 

From Madrid General Grant proceeded to Portugal, 
where he was received by the king, Don Louis I., who 
came to Lisbon to welcome him. 

There was an audience at the palace, the General 
and his wife meeting the king and queen. The king, 
after greeting the General in the splendid audience 
chamber, led him into an inner apartment away from the 
ministers and courtiers who were in attendance on the 
ceremony. They had a conversation relative to Portugal 
and the United States, the resources of the two 
countries, and the means to promote the commercial 
relations between Portugal and America. 

The king invited him to go on a hunting expedition, 
among the many other modes of diversion pressed upon 
him, but the General was forced to plead want of time. 
There were several meetings between the king and the 
General, and a pleasant friendship grew up between 
them. They parted with sincere regret. 

From Lisbon the tourists returned to Spain, proceed- 
ing direcdy to Cordova, and from thence to Seville. 

A correspondent says: "Our stay in Seville was 
marked by an incident of a personal character worthy 
of veneration — the visit of General Grant to the Duke 




(937) 



938 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of Montpensier. The day after General Grant arrived 
in Seville the duke called on him, and the next day was 
spent by the General and his party in the hospitable 
halls and g-ardens of St. Elmo. The duke reo-retted 
that, his house being in mourning on account of the 
death of his daughter, Queen Mercedes, he could not 
give General Grant a more formal welcome than a quiet 
luncheon party. The duke, the duchess and their 
daughter were present, and after luncheon the General 
and duke spent an hour or two strolling through the 
gardens, which are among the most beautiful in Europe. 
The duke spoke a great deal of his relations with 
America, and especially ot the part which his nephews 
had played in the war against the South." 

From Seville the General went directly to Cadiz. He 
arrived at this point of his journey on the 6th of 
December. 

After visiting Gibraltar, the party returned to Spain, 
thence proceeding north to Paris. Leaving Mrs. Grant 
with her dautjhter, Mrs. Sartoris, in England, General 
Grant made his trip to Ireland. 

On the evening of July 2d General Grant arrived at 
Dublin. He was met by the lord mayor and conducted 
through every place of interest in the city. All the 
clionitaries assembled to do him honor. The freedom of 
the city was presented to him. All through Ireland his 
appearance was the signal for general enthusiasm. 
Multitudes thronged every station. All the towns were 
in gala dress, and the shipping in the harbors gay with 
flags. 

The city authorities gave him a handsome banquet, 
the lord mayor presiding. On the 4th the General 
breakfasted with the Duke of Marlborough, and spent 
the rest of the day strolling about Dublin. On January 



AROUND THE WORLD. 939 

6th, the party left for Londonderry. Here, as at 
Dundalk, Armagh, Strabane and other places, large,- 
crowds were assembled, and enthusiasm was general, 
Belfast was next visited. " The reception at this place 
was imposing and extraordinary. The linen and other 
works had stopped work, and the workmen stood in the 
rain by thousands. The platform of the station was 
covered with scarlet carpet. The mayor and members 
of the city council welcomed the General, who descended 
froni the cars amid tremendous cheers. Crowds ran 
after the carriages, and afterward surrounded the hotel 
where the General was entertained." 

General Grant visited all the large mills and industrial 
works of the city. 

Every now and then the General would be greeted 
by an old soldier who had fought with him in the Ameri- 
can war. "I w^as with theSouth. Hurrah for Grant! " 
said a man trom Ulster. Thousands of working people 
stood hours in the pouring rain to get a glimpse of him. 
Indeed, his tour throuoh Ireland was one ereat ovation. 

Returning to Dublin the General left his Irish friends, 
on the 8th, reaching London on the 9th, which day was 
spent as the guest of Mr. John Welsh, the American 
minister. 

On the 13th of January die party arrived in Paris, 
where immediate preparations were made for a trip to 
India. Before departing the General was entertained 
by President MacMahon at a grand dinner at the Elysee. 
On the 2ist he left Paris for Marseilles, to embark for 
his eastern journey. 

That Grant should have been received with all the 
honors known to diplomatic courtesy among European 
potentates is not so much to be wondered at, but that 
his unofficial presence in the Orient called forth such 



940 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

homage is astonishing, when one considers the scenes 
through which he passed as anything more or less than 
a^iry-tale. Domiciled in gorgeous palaces, taking part 




••', IM'1A-V1>11K1, i.V t.KNKKAI GRANT. 

in oriental receptions, riding elephants, attending relig- 
ious ceremonies, hobnobbing with barbaric princes over 
strange dishes, at banquets indescribably magnificent 



AROUND THE WORLD. 941 

and outlandish — all this, to which were added great 
military reviews and social formalities without numbers, 
Grant calmly passed through during his stay in India, 
treating each new experience as it" it were a matter ot 
course, and losing not an opportunity to add to his in- 
creasing stock of information as to the world and its 
devious ways. 

The party for the trip to India was composed of 
General Grant, Mrs. Grant, Colonel Frederick D. Grant, 
Mr, A. E. Borie, Dr. Keating, of Philadelphia, a nephew 
of Mr. Borie and John Russell Young. 

On the 25th of January the last farewells were 
spoken, and the party went aboard the government 
yacht, landing at the Apollo Bunder — the spot where 
the Prince of Wales landed. At Bombay General Grant 
was entertained at the Government House on Malabar 
Point. This point was in " other days a holy place of 
the Hindoos. Here w^as a temple, and it was also 
believed that if those who sinned made a pilgrimage to 
the rocks there would be expiation or regeneration of 

1 " 
soul. 

The party visited the Marble Rocks at Tatulpur; 
thence Allahabad and Agra, arriving at Jeypore on 
the 24th. 

At Jeypore he was royally entertained by the Maha- 
rajah, an Indian prince of wide renown, and every 
opportunity afforded him to view the country. An im- 
mense elephant was placed at his disposal, and attend- 
ants by the score bidden to anticipate his ever)- wish. 

Native bands performed as he dined, and dancing-girls 
were sent to divert the American mind from serious 
thought. One can imagine the utterly irresponsive de- 
meanor of the recipient of these playful services. But 
these customs of a forci^^n land were to be witnessed as 



AROUND THE WORLD. 943 

a part of the programme, and the resigned spectator 
laid the curious sights away in his receptive brain for 
future reference. 

At Bhurtpoor the Maharajah also received General 
Grant as his special guest. The British officers attached 
to the court were with the prince. There was a blare 
of trumpets and roll of drums, and all the ceremony 
attendant upon a native prince who was in uniform and 
glittering with jewels. 

It would take volumes to describe this journey 
through the land of ruins, tombs, and palaces. The 
tourists proceeded on through Lucknow, Calcutta, Delhi 
— " the city of sorrow and desolation " — through Ben- 
ares, sacred to the Hindoos, as also to the Buddhists 
(the city of priests), and, finally, across the Bay of Ben- 
o-al to Rangoon, leaving Hindostan and its customs to 
come upon an entirely different people. A special in- 
vitadon from the King of Siam drew the illustrious 
traveller to the strange city of Bangkok, sometimes 
termed the " Venice of the East." Here he was re- 
ceived at the palace of the " Supreme King of Siam." 
Music and salvos of artillery met him as he landed, and 
he was escorted into the presence of his highness by the 
kino-'s private secretary, a nobleman of iiigh rank. A 
royal dinner and effusive ceremonies followed. 

The tour led on to Hong-Kong, for which point Gen- 
eral Grant sailed from Singapore on the 23d of April. 
The usual hospitalities of a ceremonious land followed. 
Thence the journey was continued to Canton, where 
honors never before bestowed upon a foreigner were re- 
ceived. Forts blazed a welcome, and long lines of Chi- 
nese orunboats were drawn up to fire the national salute. 
The celesdal kingdom was enjoying a novel sensation, 
and the emperor, having made a "new departure," 



944 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

seemed bent on showing his guest every attention that 
could honor and astonish a western barbarian. 

A gorgeous and characteristic reception was given 
by the viceroy, succeeded by entertainments of various 
kinds, among them banquets quite as prohfic of curi- 
osity as of appetite. Magnificent presents, according 
to the custom of the country, were bestowed upon 
the distinguished traveller. At Shanghai a fete un- 
paralleled in magnificence awaited him. At Tientsin 
he met the famous viceroy Li Hung Chang, sometimes 
called " the Bismarck of the East." 

This " great viceroy took the deepest interest in the 
coming of General Grant. He was of the same aee as 
the General. They won their victories at the same 
time — the Southern rebellion ending in April, the 
Taeping rebellion in July, 1865. As the viceroy said : 
' General Grant and I have suppressed the two greatest 
rebellions known in history.' Those who have studied 
the Taeping rebellion will not think that Li Hung 
Chang coupled himself with General Grant in a spirit of 
boasting. 

"The General formed a high opinion of the viceroy 
as a statesman of resolute and far-seeing character. 
This opinion was formed after many conversations — 
official, ceremonial and personal." 

The viceroy could think of no attention too great to 
bestow upon his brother warrior. Enthusiastic demon- 
strations were matle upon his arrival. A royal chair, 
such as is used only by emperors, bore him into the 
presence of the viceroy, who stood awaiting him among 
his mandarins. 

It must have been a curious scene, this meeting be- 
tween these two extraordinary men, types of Eastern 
and Western civilization. Lonir conversations took 




3K 



l945) 



94b LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

place between the statesmen during Grant's stay. The 
vMceroy seemed never to tire of asking questions con- 
cerning the United States, and no man was better pre- 
pared than the ex-President to afford information. They 
parted, having lormed a high mutual opinion of each 
other. 

To say that this unusual opportunity for exchange of 
intelligent ideas concerning the two great antipodal na- 
tions was merely interesting is but a half expression of 
its importance. The result could be nothing less than 
an advance in civilization. 

From Tientsin the party proceeded to Pekin, where 
Chinese attentions were lavished profusely upon the 
General. 

"On the 3d day of June, shortly after midday, we saw 
in the distance the walls and towers of Pekin. As we 
neared the city the walls loomed up and seemed harsh 
and forbiddinof, built with care and strenQ-th as if to 
defend the city. We came to a gate and were carried 
through a stone arched way, and halted, so that a new 
escort could join the (jeneral's party." 

General Grant was met at Pekin by a message from 
Prince Kung, saying his imperial highness would be 
glad to see General Grant. The interview took place 
on the following day. The prince *' expected to see a 
uniformed person, a man of the dragon or lion species, 
who could make a great noise. What he saw was a 
quiet, middle-aged gentleman in evening dress, who had 
ridden a long way in the dust and sun, and who was 
looking in subdued dismay at sweetmeats, dishes of 
birds' nest soup, sharks' fins, roast ducks, bamboo 
sprouts and a tea-pot with a hob. insipid tipple made of 
rice, tasting like a remembrance of sherry, which was 
poured into small silver cups. The dinner differed 




■yi7) 



948 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

from those in Tientsin, Canton, Shanghai, in the fact 
that it was more quiet. There was no display of parade, 
no crowd of dusky servants and retainers hano-ino- 
around and looking on, as though at a comedy." 

General Grant's interview with Prince Kung was a 
ventilation of republican views, his highness seeming de- 
sirous also of " making hay while the sun shone." He 
desired to secure the General's ofood offices in regard to 
a difficulty with Japan, adding " that he knew General 
Grant would always have a vast influence upon all na- 
tions." Grant responded that he was going to Japan, 
and that " if the opportunity occurred of presenting the 
views of China to the Japanese cabinet he would do so." 
Such was the influence of the undemonstrative Amer- 
ican, whose force had borne him irresistibly into the con- 
fidence of the ancient and conservative nations of the 
world. 

The General had looked forward to his visit to the 
great wall of China with curiosity and pleasure. Sailing 
along the northern coast of the China sea, the end of 
this wonderful structure was seen jutting out into the 
water. Landing, a flight of stone steps were ascended, 
and the party found themselves in a temple, from which 
was enjoyed a magnificent view of the surrounding sea 
and country. The General, practical always, " believed," 
as he inspected the unique work, " that the labor ex- 
pended on this wall would have built every railroad in 
the United States, every canal and highway and most, if 
not all, of our cities." 

It was late in the afternoon before the part)'' were 
again under way. Crossing the gulf, morning found the 
vessel at Cheefoo, a summer resort for European resi- 
dents of Shanghai and Tientsin. Here a fleet of gun- 
boats were awaiting the arrival ; flags streamed upon 




A CHINESE l-AGODA, AS SEEN BY GENERAL GRANT. 

(W9) 



950 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the warm air, nativ^e music strug-gled with American 
national airs, and a thronLT awaited Grant's landing:. He 
was borne in a yellow satin chair of honor, preceded 
by mounted Chinese officers into the town, where a grand 
reception was prepared for him. In the evening there 
was an illumination and fireworks, and a native proces- 
sion followed as he took his departure. As the vessel 
moved out into the stream the novel demonstration of a 
midnight salute took place. 

The Chinese gunboats thundered forth gun after gun. 
The General's vessel responded, as it slowly disappeared 
in the midst of dense clouds of smoke. This was Grant's 
last farewell to China. 

The rapidly-strengthening friendship between Japan 
and the United States called forth an enthusiastic demon- 
stration of welcome to the General from that country. 

The party was received by a salute of twenty-one 
guns. The royal barge approached, bringing to the 
vessel Prince Dati, a dignitary of the very highest rank, 
as representative of the emperor. He was attended 
by Mr. Yoshida and the governor, all attired in the 
richest of court costumes. The reception was purely 
Japanese. Long lines of native troops were drawn up 
along the way to the quarters prepared for the dis- 
tinguished guest, and all the principal citizens of the 
town came out to give him welcome. The entire 
road was decorated with flags, American and Japanese, 
entwined with floral arches. 

After the national irreetine. the foreign consuls were 
presented in a body by the American consul, Mr. 
Mangum. After these a delegation representing the 
foreign residents of all nationalities in Nagasaki. Ad- 
dresses were made, and a visit paid to the Fair, which 
was in progress. The General and Mrs. Grant planted 




l'»',J) 



AROUND THE WORLD. 



953 



trees, by request, in the grounds, A monument is said 
to be erected near in honor of the illustrious visit. 

The most interesting entertainment afforded the Gen- 
eral, during his stay in Nagasaki, was a dinner given 
him in the style of the feudal lords of Japan. The fete 



M- 



i'-'Si tv 



.N^": 



■:.^ 



'fi 



I ' 



1| 



took place in an an- 
cient temple over- 
looking the bay, and 
in every respectwas 
a history of ban- 
quets, once an im- 
portant part of Jap- 
anese ceremonial. 
There were more than fifty courses strange to America; 
and, as in the days of the daimios, native music accom 
panied the banquet. A revival of a peculiar custom 
brouo-ht in the dauq-hters of the leadinir merchants and 



\\ 




GENERAL GRANT TAKING A MORNING WALK 
ON BOARD THE STEAMER RICHMOND 



954 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

citizens of Nagasaki as singers. They were costumed 
according to the departed days of fast-changing japan. 
The song, an original composition, was in honor of Gen- 
eral Grant and his warrior deeds, sung in the native 
tongue. 

Every one of the five days spent in Nagasaki was 
filled with attention and pleasure. All places of interest 
were visited, the citizens vying with each other in hospi- 
talit}^ 

General Grant's visit to Sumida was most interesting, 
because it enabled him to get a glimpse of Japan un- 
touched by foreign habits. The bay of Sumida is not 
open to the world, but, as the guest of the emperor, 
Grant was cordially received. His arrival was cele- 
brated by a fete, a Japanese breakfast and the usual 
curious display of fireworks. All the town followed 
him to the beach as he took his departure. The follow- 
ing day he arrived at Yokohama. 

The landing of Japan's distinguished guest was upon 
Japanese territory. The imperial barge bore him from 
the Richmond amid salutes from all the vessels in 
the harbor. An eye-witness says : 

"The scene was wonderfully grand — the roar of 
cannon, the clouds of smoke wandering off over the 
waters ; the stately, noble vessels streamino- with flaes ; 
the yards manned with seamen ; the guards on deck ; 
the officers in tull uniform gathered on the quarter-deck 
to salute the General as he passed ; the music and the 
cheers which came from the Japanese and the merchant 
ships ; the crowds that clustered on the wharves ; the 
city; and. over all, a clear, mild, July da)-, with grateful 
breezes ruffling the sea. In waiting upon the Admiralty 
wharf were the royal personages of the Japanese empire. 
After the reception the party proceeded to Tokio. Upon 




(95.5) 



956 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the arrival of the train an address of welcome was read 
by the citizens, after which the General was conveyed, 
in the emperor's private carriage, to his temporary resi- 
dence — the emperor's summer palace of Enriokw'an. 




(..LM.KAL I.KANT MLKTING THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN. 

Dense throngs of people lined the way, music sounded, 
and arches of floral welconie met the sight on every 
hand. 



AROUND THE WORLD. J)")7 

The General was, soon after his arrival, orrantecl an 
audience with the emperor. The empress was with him, 
the cabinet being- also present. It was significant that 
the emperor shook hands with General Grant, an act 
of amenity hitherto unknown to the empire. A royal 
address of welcome from the Emperor was read, and 
responded to by the General. This was followed by a 
pretty little address of greeting to Mrs. Grant from the 
empress, to which the lady responded gracefully : 

"I thank you very much. I have visited many coun- 
tries, and have seen many beautiful places, but I have 
seen none so beautiful and so charming- as Japan." 

" The emperor and empress have agreeable faces, the 
emperor especially showing firmness and kindness. 
The solemn etiquette that pervaded the audience- 
chamber was peculiar, and might appear strange to those 
familiar with the stately but cordial manners of a 
European court. But one must remember that the 
emperor holds so high and so sacred a place in the 
traditions, the religion and the political system of Japan, 
that even the ceremony of to-day is so far in advance 
of anything of the kind ever known in Japan that it 
might be called a revolution." 

General and Mrs. Grant during their stay in Japan 
were the recipients of many and unusual attentions 
from the emperor and empress. 

During the Fourth of July the General held a recep- 
tion attended by all the dignitaries of the empire. The 
emperor reviewed his troops for the benefit of his guest, 
and at the close of the brilliant pageant received the 
General and his party at dinner in the Shila palace. 

Notwithstanding the torrid weather endured, cere- 
monlals followed fast during the travellers' sojourn in 
Yokohama. The General gave several entertainments, 



958 



Zy/'A Oh GKNKRAL GKAAl. 



dining the native princes, tlie prime ministers, Ja[:)anese 
officials, and many prominent citizens. 

The emperor sought a lengthy personal interview 
with General Grant. After a discussion of trovernmen- 
tal matters, the General took occasion to redeem his 
promise to the Emperor of China on the question of 

1 




Loochoo. 1 he prime minister responded that " |apan 
would do what she could, without yielding her dignity, 
to preserve the best relations." An interesting and in- 
formal political discussion followed. 

This opportunity for direct communication with the 
emperor gave (jrant j)re-eminent advantage as a peace 



AKOUxWD TJIE WORLD. 959 

maker between the Eastern countries. Without the pale 
oi official life, a disinterested adviser, and one who had 
proven his own high ability to rule through war and 
peace, he was urged to give expression to his views on 
government policy in whatever kingdom or empire his 
wandering steps led him. Japan was as eager to invoke 
his good offices in the matter of securing the revision 
of treaties which crippled her revenues in the interest 
of British trade as China was in the matter of Loochoo. 
Grant never sought the responsibilities which foreign 
rulers strangely expected him to incur. They were 
thrust upon him, giving a weighty meaning to his pleas- 
ure trip, the result of which will undoubtedly bear its 
fruit. 

The General made a visit to the ancient shrine and 
temple of Nikko. It was at this point that he met the 
representatives of the Japanese Government, holding a 
conference with them concerning the difficulty on the 
Loochoo question. Upon separating, the commissioners, 
on behalf of Japan, expressed thanks and gratitude 
for his interest and advice. A number of interesting 
and novel y?/^?^" were given at Nikko. The priests of the 
temple escorted the General to the end of the town. 

At Nyeno a grand public festival was given in honor 
of the American visitor. The emperor's presence lent 
royal brilliancy to the event. It was computed that 
" hundreds of thousands " lined the roadway by which 
General Grant's carriage passed. This was the final 
entertainment given in his honor : the highest mark of 
public esteem possible. 

After a short visit to Hakone, the traveller prepared 
for his homeward trip. 

A dinner, given by Prince Uati, at Tokio, preceded 
the departure ; also, several entertainments by Ameri- 



AROUND THE WORLD. 961 

can and English residents. Admiral Patterson, as a 
"farewell," dined the officers of various foreign vessels 
on the Richmond. In great splendor and formality 
the General took his leave of the emperor. Tiie ad- 
dresses were significant and carefully prepared, and the 
adieiix on both sides affectionate and sincere. The de- 
parture was attended with great display and ceremony. 
The demonstrations on land and sea were of the most 
flattering nature. Surely never has such homage been 
paid to man by the nations of the world. The tour is a 
romance that will orow more astonishing with time. 
Its rare sio-nificance is the drawinor together of the 
peoples of the earth ; its moral in the life of the man 
who loved his fellowman beyond himself 

General Grant proceeded directly to San Francisco. 
The reception upon his arrival is yet fresh in the re- 
membrance of Americans. The city blazed with illumi- 
nations, cannon reverberated along the brown hills ; 
plaudits rent the air ; the entire populace came out to 
ereet the returned traveller. It was a home-comine 
that can never be surpassed in true and heart-felt 
welcome. 

General Grant remained for several weeks the guest 
of San Francisco, receivingr numerous and flatterino- at- 
tentions. "On the 23d of September General and Mrs. 
Grant were formally presented by the municipal author- 
ities to the citizens of San Francisco. The ceremonies 
took place at the city hall, and were elaborate and im- 
posing." The General and his party made a trip to the 
famous Yosemite valley, returning to San Francisco on 
the 8th of October. 

After visiting several western cities, where he was 
handsomely entertained, the General returned to San 
Francisco for his leave-taking. A magnificent banquet 
was oriven in his honor at the Palace Hotel. 



962 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

On the 5th of November he was enthusiastically wel- 
comed by his friends in his own home at Galena, 111. 
Here he enjoyed a few days' rest, starting- on the 12th 
for Chicago, to attend the reunion of the Army of the 
Tennessee. Great demonstrations were made in his 
honor; and on the morning of the 13th an immense re- 
ception was given him by the Union X'eteran Club, at 
McVicker's Theatre. General Grant was welcomed 
with unusual honors by the cities of Logansport, Indian- 
apolis, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and 
Harrisburg. 

"General Grant and his party passed the night on 
board of the special train at Harrisburg. An early start 
was made for Philadelphia, at which point the General's 
journey around the world came to an end. The great 
city had made the most magnificent preparations for the 
reception of its distinguished guest, and there can be no 
question that the reception was one of the most tre- 
mendous ovations ever tendered any man in the United 
States." There was a moving column of over twelve 
miles in length, which occupied six hours in passing any 
given point. The city was magnificently arched and 
decorated, and the vast throng that welcomed him mani- 
fested the heartiest cordiality. " General Grant's car- 
riage was heralded blocks ahead — to the ear by the 
shouts of applause, and to the eye by the waving of liats 
and handkerchiefs. As his carriacre reached the front 
of Independence Hall, a round of applause greeted him, 
the bell tolled forth a salute, and this was the signal for 
a general outburst of enthusiasm all along the line." 

The General remained two weeks in Philadelphia, the 
recipient of the most cordial attentions on the part of 
the citizens. 

General Grant continued his trip through the southern 




^Dii") 



964 LIFE OF GEXERAL GRANT. 

States, finally embarking- on the steamer Admiral for 
Havana. At Havana he was the recipient of the hearti- 
est hospitality. An official banquet was given in his 
honor at the palace. Many distinguished persons were 
present. 

On the 13th of February General Grant embarked 
for Vera Cruz, where he was cordially received by offi- 
cials and citizens. While here the General visited ]\Io- 
lino del Rey. " It was at the portal in the surrounding 
wall of these buildings that the desperate assault was 
made by the Americans which drove the Mexicans out 
like rats toward Chapultepec, half a mile away, and im- 
mortalized the spot in our national annals. The ancient 
walls plainly show the marks of bullets and of cannon- 
balls. A plain monument upon the crest of a hill gives 
due token of the event. It was here that General Grant, 
then a young lieutenant, won his captaincy." On the 
20th of March General Grant bade adieu to his Mexican 
Iriends, retracing his route homeward. 



CHAPTER LXYIL 

THE CONVENTION OF 1880. 
General Grant on a third term-His return from Europe-The movement for his 
no"ination-The acrimony aroused-The convention-ConUhngs rn.sterly ora- 
L-ThesoS-Garfield nominated-Blaine's State lost-Grant to the rescue- 
What the result proved- An interview with the General on the subject. 

Towards the close of General Grant's second term as 
President there were many absurd newspaper publica- 
tions charo-ino- him with an ambition for another term. 
Nothino- cSuld have been farther from the truth, yet per- 
sistent dweUinc. upon the subject had almost convinced 
the country that he really had longings in that direction. 
Therefore, a discussion sprang up, which was idle enough 
vet which created much interest at the time, lo a great 
manv very '^ood yet quite mistaken people, a third term 
was a Pandora's box full of evils. It meant Ceesarism. 
and tyranny, and a life tenure of office, and a reigning 
family, and self-election and a great many other similar 
thino-s So warm did the discussion become that at last, 
in r?piy to a letter, General Grant was led into an utter- 
ance on the subject. In it he said : _ 

"It may happen in the future history of the country 
that to change an executive because he has been eight 
years in office will prove unfortunate, if not disastrous. 
The idea that any man could elect himselt President is 
preposterous. It is a reflection upon the intelligence 
and patriodsm of the people to suppose such a thing pos- 
sible Any man can destroy his chances for an ottice. 
but no man can force an election, or even a nomination. 
To recapitulate: I am not, nor have I ever been, a can- 
didate for renomination. I would not accept a nomina- 
tion if it were tendered, unless it should come under 
such circumstances as to make it an imperative duty- 
circumstances not likely to arise." , . , , , 
General Grant showed that he meant this thoroughly 

9-35 



OvJG LIJ^E.OF GENERAL GRANT. 

by not allowing his name to go before the national con- 
vention, which met shortly after. But he also put on 
record his opinion that a third term for any President, if 
his re-election seemed demanded by the exigencies of the 
times, would be neither alarming nor unconstitutional. 
He had too much confidence in his country to be alarmed 
by such a bugaboo. At the same time he felt no desire 
for any further pubhc service. \o use his own language 
when his second term was ended, " I feel like a boy out 
of school." 

When the General returned from his trip aroimd the 
world he was at the height of his popularity. His splen- 
did bearing before the nations of Europe had made the 
country ver}' proud of him. He was, at the time, the 
most conspicuous man in the world. He had acquired 
a knowledge of international affairs under circumstances 
unparalleled. He had a broad experience of his own 
country behind this. He was a man singularly equipped 
for the duties of the executive chair, and, irresistibly, tiie 
eyes of the country were turned to him. 

His party had a distinct reason of expediency in ask- 
ing for his nomination. Every Southern State voted the 
Democratic ticket and the majority of the Northern States 
voted the Republican ticket. This made the political 
division also a sectional division, and the best interests 
of the country demanded that it should be broken up. It 
placed the republic in a situation dangerously similar to 
that which had preceded the Rebellion, and the national 
instincts of patriotism were opposed to it. General Grant 
was the only man who could accomplish the change. He 
had a record of undeviating friendship for both sections, 
which was possessed by no other man in public life. 

Out of these causes grew the movement for Grant's 
re-nomination in 1880. Without his knowledge and with- 
out any consultation with him, the agitation began. It 
extended rapidly until it reached formidable proportions. 
It was supported by the great leaders of his party, and 
it was sustained by the majority of the masses. It was 
a logical idea and it grew to powerful proportions almost 
in a day. 



THE CONVENTION OF 1880. 967 

But it had its opposition too. There were candidates 
for the office who had waited long and anxiously, ihey 
were willing to use all the weapons of politics against 
the friends of General Grant, but the ordinary ones 
would not do. The exploded scandals of past campaigns 
could not be revamped. He had been lifted so high that 
scurrility would injure those who used it. Something 

new must be found. ^^ :„ o 

In this situation the baseless fear of the danger in a 
third term naturally suggested itself. It could bejised ef- 
fectively and under a mask of patriotism. It involved a new 
experiment and republics are most conservative in their 
regard for precedents and traditions. It was recruited 
The sole plan of campaign of those opposed to Grant 
was to manufacture sentiment against a third term. 1 hey 
worked constantly and vigorously. The campaign gew 
acrid and bitter. The complexion of 7^^y^^^^^|f;r 
was watched with the most intense interest. Ra ely 
before had the country been wrought to such a pitch ot 

excitement. . , ., tt^ rnnld 

Meanwhile General Grant rema.ned s, lent "^ '=°"''» 
not refuse the nomination because .t had "ot b^<=n t^" 
dered him He had already expressed himself on the 
subiect o? a third term, and there was absolutely nothmg 
a^: for him to say. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

could bring to the duties of the office a full t-"°^l^^^^; 
which would be of advantage to h.s country 1"= P™^ 
able, too, that as the struggle advanced and he saw m 
motives misconstrued and a pos.t.on ^""bu f o hm. 
which he had never held, that a natural de="-« « "^J 
come his detractors was born m h.s breast. Hovvever 
this may be, it is quite certam that he ^"^ ^^^^^f^^'^f 
trusted with the struggle and the mornmg oi the mcet.ng ot 
fhe convention, telegraphed a leadmg "^-V^l^l^^^' 
Chicago, not to allow his name to go before the boay. 
This teletrram was suppressed. 

t Jun=-e, ,880, the Republican Nat.onal Convent on 
met in Chicago. It was in many respects one of the 



968 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

most striking assemblages ever gathered in this country. 
Never were so many party leaders brought tooether. 
The excitement ran very high and the most intense anx- 
iety was felt in the result. Conkling, Cameron and 
Logan constituted the triumvirate which led the Grant 
forces. His opponents were divided among different as- 
pirants, of whom Blaine was the most prominent. Sher- 
man, Edmunds, Washburne and Windom were also put 
in nomination. 

Senator Roscoe Conkling naturally was chosen to 
place General Grant in nomination, and when he arose 
there was the greatest enthusiasm. In his slow, meas- 
ured tones he delivered the following magnificent ora- 
tion : 

" When asked whence comes our candidate, we say 
from Appomattox. [Applause.] Obeying instructions, 
I should never dare to disregard expressing also my own 
firm conviction, I rise in behalf of the State of New York 
to propose a nomination with which the country and the 
Republican party can grandly win. The elecdon before 
us will be the Austerlitz of American politics. It will 
decide whether, for years to come, the country shall be 
Republican or Cossack. The need of the hour is a can- 
didate who can carry the doubtful States, North and 
South, and believing that he, more surely than any other 
can, can carry New York against any opponent, and can 
carry not only the North, but several States of the South. 
New York is for Ulysses S. Grant. He alone of living 
Republicans has carried New York as a Presidential can- 
didate. Once he carried it, even according to a Demo- 
cratic count, and twice he carried it by the people's votes, 
and he is stronger now; the Republican party with its 
standard in his hand is stronger now than in i86S or 
1872. Never defeated in war or in peace, his name is 
the most illustrious borne by living man. His services 
attest his greatness, and the country knows them by 
heart. His fanie was born not alone of things written 
and said, but of the arduous greatness of things done, 
and dangers and emergencies will search in vain in the 
future, as they have .searched in vain in the past, for 



THE CONVENTION OF 1880. 969 

any other on whom the Nation leans with such confi- 
dence and trust. Standing on the highest eminence of 
human distinction, and having filled all lands with his 
renown, modest, firm, simple and self-poised, he has seen 
not only the titled, but the poor and the lowly in the 
uttermost ends of the earth rise and uncover belore him. 
He has studied the needs and the defects of many sys- 
tems of Government, and he comes back a better 
American than ever, with a wealth of knowledge and 
experience added to the hard common sense which so 
conspicuously distinguished him while the fierce light 
beat upon him throughout the most eventful, trying and 
perilous sixteen years of the Nation's history. Never 
having had a policy to enforce against the will of the 
people, he never betrayed a cause or a friend, and the 
people will never betray or desert him. Vilified and 
reviled, ruthlessly aspersed by numberless presses, not 
in other lands, but in his own, assaults upon him have 
strengthened and seasoned his hold on the public heart. 
The ammunition of calumny has all been exploded; the 
powder has all been burned once. Its force is spent, and 
Grant's name will glitter as a bright and imperishable 
star in the diadem of the Republic when those who have 
tried to tarnish it have moldered in forgotten graves, and 
their memories and epitaphs have vanished utterly ; 
never elated by success, never depressed by adversity, 
he has ever in peace, as in war, shown the very genius of 
common sense. The terms he prescribed for Lee's sur- 
render foreshadowed the wisest principles and prophe- 
cies of the true reconstruction ; victor in the greatest of 
modern wars, he quickly signalized his aversion to war 
and his love of peace by an arbitration of international 
disputes, which stands as the wisest and most majestic 
example of the kind in the world's diplomacy. When 
infiation at the height of its popularity and frenzy had 
swept both houses of Congress, it was the veto of Grant 
which, single and alone, overthrew expansion and cleared 
the way for specie resumption. To him, immeasurably 
more than to any other man, is due the fact that every 
paper dollar is as good as gold. With him as our leader, 



970 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

we shall have no defensive campaicrn, no apologies or 
explanations to make ; the shafts and arrows have all 
been aimed at him, and they lie broken at his feet. Life, 
liberty and property will Hnd a safeo^uard in him. When 
he said of the black men m Florida, 'Wherever I am 
they may come also,' he meant that had he power to 
help it, the poor dwellers in the cabins of the South 
should not be driven in terror from the homes of their 
childhood and the graves of their murdered dead. When 
he refused to receive Dennis Kearney in California, he 
meant that lawlessness and Communism, although it 
should dictate laws to a whole city, everywhere would 
meet a foe in him, and that popular or unpopular, he will 
hew to the line of right, let the chips fly where they may. 
His integrity, common sense, his courage and unequalled 
experience are the qualities offered to his country. The 
only argument against accepting them would amaze Solo- 
mon. He thought there could be nothing new under the 
sun. Having tried Grant twice and found him faithful, 
we are told we must not, even after an interval of years, 
trust him arain. What stultification does not such a fal- 
lacy involve? The American people exclude Jefferson 
Da\'is from public trust. Why ? Because he was the 
arch-traitor and would-be destroyer, and now the same 
people are asked to ostracize Grar^and not to trust him. 
Why? Because he was the arch-preserver of his coun- 
try ; because, not only in war, but afterwards twice as 
Civil Magistrate, he gave his highest, noblest effort to 
the Republic. Is such absurdity an electioneering juggle 
or hypocrisy's masquerade ? There is no field of human 
activity, responsibility or reason in whicu rational beings 
object to an agent because he had been weiglied in the 
balance and not found wanting, and because he has un- 
equalled experience, making him exceptionally competent 
and fit. From the man who shoes your horse to the 
lawyer who pleads your cause, the officer who manages 
your railway or your mill, the doctor into whose hands 
you give your life, the minister who seeks to save your 
soul, what man do you reject because you have tried 
him, and by his works have known him ? What makes 



THE CONVENTION OF 1880. 971 

the Presidential office an exception to all things else in the 
common sense to be applied to selectng its incumbent? 
Who dares to put fetters on the free choice and judgment 
which is the birthright of the American people ? Can it 
b;^ said that Grant has used official place and power to 
perpetuate his power? He has no place, and official 
power has not been asked for him. Without patronage 
or power, without telegraph wires running from his house 
to this convention, without election contrivances [Cries of 
' Oh ! Oh ! ' and laughter] , without effort on his part, 
his name is on his country's lips, and he is struck at by 
the whole Democratic party, because his nomination will 
be the death-blow to Democratic success. He is struck 
at by others who find offense and disqualification in the 
very services he has rendered, and in the very experi- 
ence he has gained. Show me a better man ; name one 
and I am answered ; but do not point as a disqualifica- 
tion to the very facts which make this man fit beyond all 
others. Let not experience disqualify or excellence im- 
peach him. There is no third term in the case, and the 
pretense will die with the political dog-days which gen- 
dered it. Nobody is really worried about a third term 
except those hopelessly longing for a first term, and the 
dupes they have made. This Convention is master of a 
supreme ooportunity. It can name the next President of 
the United States, and make sure of his election and his 
peaceful inauguration. It can break the power which 
dominates and mildews the Soudi. It can speed the 
Nation in a career of grandeur, eclipsing all past achieve- 
ments. We have only to listen above the din and look 
beyond the dust of an hour to behold the Republican 
party advancing to victory, with its greatest Marshal at 
its head. [Tremendous applause.] " 

Mr. Conkling's nominating speech, unparalleled in 
political oratory, was received with the wildest delight. 
The great building fairly shook with the transports of 
applause, and, had the balloting taken place then. Gen- 
eral Grant v.ould unquestionably have been nomina- 
ted. 

But it was not to be. The resources of other ambi- 



972 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



tions were too great, and the acrimony which had 
grown up during the prehminary campaign was too 
bitter. Upon the thirty-sixth ballot James A. Garfield, 
of Ohio, was nominated, both the leading candidates 
having been defeated. Upon the first ballot Grant 
had received 305 votes. On the last he received 313. 
Mis average vote throughout was 306. His support- 
ers had never deserted their colors. 




• -^^ 



GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

The campaign opened gloomily. Mr. Garfield had 
not been the choice of his party. The anti-convention 
struggle had been so bitter that Republicans felt that 
either Grant or Blaine should be nominated. There 
were grave factional differences and both factions were 
disappointed. There was apathy everywhere, and defeat 
seemed inevitable. To add to the threatening aspect of 



THE CONVENTION OF 1880. 'J73 

the situation, Mr. Blaine lost his own State, Maine, for the 
first time in twenty years in a Presidential election. 

This catastrophe created general alarm in the party. 
It seemed to foreshadow final disaster, and Republicans 
turned at once to Grant. He answered immediately. 
Coming out of his retirement, he delivered his remarkable 
speech at Warren, Ohio, which turned the tide and secured 
the election of Garfield. The popular response to that 
speech proved beyond peradventure that General Grant 
was the choice of the masses of his party for the Presidency. 

In reviewing the extraordinary contest of 1880, the 
most captious critic must concede that General Grant 
maintained his dignity throughout. The question of a 
third term was thrust upon him by his friends. He was 
in no wise responsible for the inception or progress of 
the movement. It was continued absolutely without his 
knowledge or consent. Yet the after-results seem to 
prove that the Republican leaders who conducted it 
read correctly the wishes of their party. 

In this connection an utterance by General Grant, after 
his return from Cuba and Mexico in 1S80, may not be 
uninteresting. It is the testimony of Mr. Joseph G. Brown, 
the first reporter who interviewed him after the conven- 
tion. He says : 

" I was introduced to General Grant in a Denver and 
Rio Grande train and he said : ' I have not allowed a 
newspaper man to approach me since the Chicago Con- 
vention. You say you don't want to interview me. You 
are welcome to publish anything I say. No, I never get 
tired of traveling. I see new country, new faces, new 
things and learn something all the time. What are my 
reflections on the Chicago Convention? I have nothing 
to say about politics ; but one thing you may put in your 
paper: I feel more proud of the support of that 306, 
more proud of their loyalty to me, than I would have felt 
had I been elected President of the United States.' 

"Thus General Grant talked freely for half an hour, 
when at last I asked : ' General, do you sometimes 
meet an old rebel soldier of the private ranks who fought 
against you in any particular battle?' 



974 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" ' Yes, sometimes, seldom,' and he gazed meditatively 
out of the window, as he placed his cig^ar between his lips. 

"•I asked the question because I was a rebel soldier 
and fought against you in the batdes of Fort Donelson 
and Champion Hill.' 

"The General became serious. 'I honor all Confeder- 
ate soldiers as I do all brave, conscientious men. You 
were not at fault; your leaders were. They knew that a 
Southern confederacy was impossible and ought not to 
be. I was fighting not against the South, hut for \i. In 
every battle I felt a sympathy for you, and I felt that I 
was fiofhtinLT for North and South — for the whole 
nation. The result of that war proves my words. Sup- 
pose the South had established a confederacy ; the poor 
men there would have been the menial subjects of an 
oligarchy. As it was before the war, every day's labor 
of the poor man was in competition with slaver}', and, in 
public estimation, he had little or no estate. How much 
worse it would have been had you retained slavery with 
a separate government! But now see the difference 
From all over the South your poor young men have gone 
out or stayed at home and made for themselves fortune 
and fame, just as you are doing in Colorado. You find 
them bankers, millionaires, famous mercliants, rich 
miners, Congressmen, Senators, and otherwise filling 
the most important positions in the councils of the 
nation. With a Southern confederacy and slavery no 
such blessings could come to the poor of the South.' 

" He talked at length on this subject, and in all tl.at 
he said there was not an unkind word toward the South- 
ern people ; but that v/hich seemed uppermost in his 
mind was the desire for harmony between the sections." 

That this harmony would have been quickly completed 
had General Grant been elected to the Presidency in 
1880 the scenes at his funeral fully attest. 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 



MR. CHILDS S RECOLLECTIONS. 



Grant's relations with Mr. Childs — No formalities between them — Early associations 

Giant as an artist — A new trait in his cliaracter — His friendly relations with 

Confederates — What he said about Tilden — The Electoral Commission — The 
discovery of his fatal illness— His smoking habits— His memory — General rem- 
iniscences. 

It is not an extravagance of language to say that Mr. 
George W. Childs was General Grant's most intimate 
friend. A thoroughly genuine man, the generous 
instincts of Mr. Childs's nature found quick companion- 
ship in the plain and unassuming, yet great military 
chieftain. They had so many parts in common that inti- 
macy followed hard upon the heels of first acquaintance- 
ship, and it grew with the years. In the days of Grant's 
triumph, when the flatterers were many and obtrusive, 
Mr. Childs was not among them, but, in the after twilight, 
he was the friend to whom he always turned. In shine 
or in shadow he was the same. He felt for the great 
leader a strong, manly, earnest regard, and the feeling 
was returned. There were no formalities or pretences 
between them. They met and talked as men who knew 
and appreciated each other. Their friendship began 
when General Grant's career was only a probability. It 
continued through the years when he was the idol of the 
republic. But never was it stronger than when, in the 
bitterness of the last gloaming, the chieftain's eyes looked 
with sad pathos through the mists of Mount McGregor, 
through the half-swung curtains of the hereafter, to 
where futurity stood with "present arms" to welcome 
the soldier who was to pass into its mystery. Therefore 
Mr. Childs's recollections of General Grant have especial 
value, and the story which follows has been given by 

(975) 




(976) 



MR. CHILDS\S RECOLLECTIONS. 977 

him for this work that it may be preserved in enduring 
form. He says : 

" General Grant and I first met after the victory of 
Vicksburg, in 1863. The General and Mrs. Grant came 
to Philadelphia to make arrangements to put their chil- 
dren at school in Burlington, N. J. From that time our 
intimacy grew until his death. There were three char- 
acteristics that were prominent in his life — justice, kind- 
ness and firmness. He was the most modest of men. 

" Seeing him, as I did, for nearly twenty years, or such 
portions of the year as he was in the country, I had 
ample opportunity to notice these qualities. We lived 
on adjoining properties on the same land without any 
division, and I might say there never was a day when we 
were at Long Branch together but what I was either in 
his house or he in mine. I never saw him in the war, 
and never saw him in the field. I corresponded with 
him during that time, and every opportunity he would 
get he would come on to Philadelphia for the purpose 
of seeing his family, and in that way he made a great 
many friends. That was as early as 1863. He always 
seemed to enjoy his visits there, as they gave him rest 
during the time he was in the army, and also when he 
was President. 

" Much has been published about General Grant, but 
there are some thing's I have not seen stated, and one 
is that he had considerable artistic taste and talent. He 
painted very well. One of his paintings, twelve by 
eighteen Inches, he gave to his friend, Hon. A. E. Borie, 
of Philadelphia, who was secretary of the navy. That 
picture is, I believe, the only one that he painted which 
is known to be in existence. Of the others there Is no 
trace. He stood very high with his professor of draw- 
ing at West Point, and if he had persevered in that line 
might have made a good artist. He was always apt in 
mathematics and drawing. The picture I referred to 
was of an Indian chief, at a trading-post in the North- 
west, exchanging skins and furs with a lot of traders and 
trappers. The Indian stood in the foreground, and was 
the central object. He was a noble fi.gure, and was well 

3M 



978 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

painted and in full and correct costume. I have seen 
the painting often, which has been very much admired, 
and he took a good deal of pride in it himself. He gavt; 
it to Mr. Borie, as that gentleman was, perhaps, one of 
his dearest friends, and the intimacy was kept up until 
the latter's death. 

"General Grant was not an ardent student. Early in 
life he was somewhat of a novel reader, but more latterly 
he read biography and travels. He was a careful reader 
and remembered everything he read, but he had nothing 
which could be distinctly called literary taste. He was 
a great reader of newspapers. I remember once his 
coming down here when Sherman's work had just been 
published and I asked him if he had read the work. He 
said ' no,' he had not had time to read it, and one of the 
persons present observed, 'Why, General, you won't 
find much in it about yourself. He doesn't seem to 
think you were in the war.' The General said : * I don't 
know ; I have read some adverse criticisms, but I am 
going to read it and judge for myself.' 

" After he had read the book over carefully and atten- 
tively, I asked him what he thought of it. * Well,' he 
said, 'it has done me more than justice. It has given 
me more credit than I deserved. Any criticism I might 
make would be that I think he has not done justice to 
Logan, Blair and other volunteer generals whom he calls 
political generals. These men did their duty faithfully 
and I never believe in imputing motives to people.' 
General Sherman had sent the proof-sheets of that por- 
tion of the work relating to General Grant to me before 
the full book was published, and asked if I had any sug- 
gestions and if I thought it was just to the General. I 
then told Grant that the proofs were sent to me, and I 
thought as he did that General Sherman had done him 
full justice. It will be seen by this that General Grant 
was always magnanimous to every one he came in con- 
tact with, particularly his army associates. He was a 
man who rarely ever used the pronoun I in conversation 
when speaking of his battles. 

"There is one anuisi:ig liule incident I recall, apropos 




i'979) 



980 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of a large, full-sized portrait of General Sherman on his 
'March to the Sea,' which hanq-s in my hall, and which 
was painted from life by Kauffmann. Sherman sits in 
front of the tent in a white shirt, without coat or vest. 
The picture shows a camp-fire in front, and the moon- 
light in the rear of the tents. The criticism of General 
Grant when he first saw it was: 'That is all very fine. 
It looks like Sherman, but he never wore a boiled shirt 
there, I am sure.' 

"While living in Long Branch there was hardly a Con- 
federate officer that came to the place without visiting 
the General. He was always glad to see them, and with 
those men he invariably talked over the war. The Gen- 
eral had a very high opinion of General Joe Johnston, 
and always spoke of him as being one of the very best 
of Southern generals, and at one of my dinners I had 
the pleasure of getting Johnston, Grant and Sherman 
together. 

o 

" In regard to election matters General Grant was a 
very close observer and had a wonderful judgment in 
regard to results. One particular case may be cited. 
During the canvass of his second term (toward the latter 
part) there began to be doubts throughout the country 
about the election. Senator Wilson, who was then run- 
ning on the ticket for vice-president, who was a man of 
the people and had a good deal of experience in election 
matters for forty years, made an extensive tour through 
the country, and he came to my house just after the tour, 
very blue. He went over the ground and showed that 
the matter was in a great deal of doubt. I went to see 
General Grant and I told him about this feeling, particu- 
larly as coming from Senator Wilson. The General said 
nothing, but he sent for a map of the United States, 
He laid the map down on the table, went over it with a 
pencil and said : ' We will carry this State, that State 
and that State,' until he nearly covered the whole 
United States. It occurred to me he might as well put 
them all in, and I ventured the remonstrance : ' I think 
it would not be policy to talk that way ; the election now 
is pretty near approaching,' When the election came 



MR. CHFLDS'S RECOLLECTIONS. 981 

the result of it was that he carried every State that he 
had predicted, and that prediction was in the face of the 
feehng- throughout the country that the Rcpubhcan cause 
was growing weaker, and in spite of the fact that the 
vice-president, who was deeply interested in the election, 
had visited various parts of the country, south and west, 
and had come back blue and dispirited. 

" He was staying with me in Philadelphia during the 
canvass of the election between Tilden and Hayes, and 
on the morning of the momentous day after the election, 
when the returns gave Tilden a majority of all the 
electors, he accompanied me to my office. In a few 
moments an eminent Republican senator and one or two 
other leading Republicans walked in, and they went 
over the returns. These leaders, notwithstanding the 
returns, said, ' Hayes is elected,' an opinion in which 
the others coincided. General Grant listened to them 
but said nothing. After they had settled the matter in 
their own minds he said: 'Gentlemen, it looks to me 
as if Mr. Tilden was elected.' He afterwards sent for 
me in Washington and said : ' This matter is very com- 
plicated, and the people will not be satisfied unless 
something is done in regard to it which will look like 
justice. Now,' he continued, ' I have spoken of an 
Electoral Commission, and the leaders of the party are 
opposed to it, which I am sorry to see. They say that 
if an Electoral Commission is appointed you might as 
well count in Mr. Tilden. I would sooner have Mr. 
Tilden than that the Republicans should have a Presi- 
dent who could be stigmatized as a fraud. If I were 
Mr. Hayes I would not have it unless it was settled in 
some way outside the Senate. This matter is opposed 
by the leading Republicans in the House and Senate 
and throughout the country.' 

" President Grant invited the leading Republican 
senators to dine with him to meet me that day and to get 
their sentiment. He said to me : ' You see the feeling 
here. I find them almost universally opposed to any- 
thing like an Electoral Commission.' I named a leading 
Democrat in the House, who was, perhaps, one of the 



982 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

most prominent men in the country, a man of great in- 
fluence and of great integrity of character, whom it 
would be well for General Grant to see in the matter, 
and the suggestion was acted on. I sent for this gentle- 
man to come to the White House and put the dilemma 
to him in President Grant's name as follows: ' It is very 
hard for the President and very embarrassing as to men 
on his own side that this matter does not seem to find 
favor with them, as well as to have Democratic opposi- 
tion. Republicans think you might as well count Tilden 
in, but as the feeling throughout the country demands 
as honest a count of the thing as possible, this 
Electoral Commission ought to be appointed.' 

"The answer at once was that the Democrats would 
favor it, and it was through that gentleman and General 
Grant that the matter was carried through. He sent 
for Mr. Conkling and said, with deep earnestness : 
'This matter is a serious one and the people feel it 
very deeply. I think this Electoral Commission ought 
to be appointed.' Conkling answered : * Mr. President, 
Senator Morton (who was then the acknowledged leader 
of the Senate) is opposed to it and opposed to your 
efforts ; but if you wish the Commission carried I can 
do it.' He said: 'I wish it done.' Mr. Conkling took 
hold of the matter and put it through. The leading 
Democrat I have spoken of took the initiative in the 
House and Mr. Conklino- in the Senate. General 
Patterson, of Philadelphia, who was an intimate friend 
of President Jackson, and a life-long Democrat, was 
also sent for. He had large estates in the South and 
a great deal of influence with the Democrats, and 
particularly with Southern Democrats. General Patter- 
son then was upwards of eighty, but he came down 
there and remained one or two weeks with General 
Grant, working hard to accomplish the purpose in view. 
After the bill had passed and was waiting for signature, 
General Grant went to a State fair in Maryland the 
day it should have been signed, and there was much 
perturbation about it. 

" I was telegraphed by those interested that General 



MR. CHILDS'S RECOLLECTIONS. 983 

Grant was absent, and they were anxious about the; 
si^T-ning. I replied they micrht consider the matter as 
good as signed, and the General came back at night 
and put his name to the document. Just before General 
Grant started on his journey around the world he was 
spending some days with me, and at dinner, with Mr. 
A. J. Drexel, Colonel A. K. McClure and myselt; 
General Grant reviewed the contest for the creation of 
the Electoral Commission very fully and with rare 
candor, and the chief significance of his view was in the 
fact, as he stated it, that he expected from the begin- 
ning until the final judgment that the electoral vote of 
Louisiana would be awarded to Tilden. He spoke of 
South Carolina and Oregon as jusdy belonging to 
Hayes; of Florida as reasonably doubtful, and of 
Louisiana as for Tilden. 

"General Grant acted in good faith throughout the 
whole business. It has been said that the changing of 
the complexion of the court threw the matter into Hayes's 
hands, and, if the court had remained as it was, Tilden 
would have been declared President. General Grant 
was the soul of honor in this matter, and no one ever 
accused him or ever hinted that he was untruthful in 
any way. I, for one, don't believe that he could possi- 
bly tell a lie or act deceitfully. There is another point 
of politics not generally known. During Garfield's can- 
vass, Garfield iDecame very much demoralized. He said 
that he not only did think that they would not carry 
Indiana, but he was doubtful if they would carry Ohio. 
During that emergency strong appeals were made to 
General Grant, and he at once threw himself into the 
breach. He saw his strong personal friends and told 
them they must help. There was one very strong man, 
a senator, whom General Grant sent for and told him 
that he must turn in, and, though he first declined, at 
General Grant's urgent solicitation he entered the field 
and contributed handsomely to the victory. General 
Grant went into the canvass with might and main. The 
tide was turned, and it was through General Grant's 
personal efibrts. seconded by his strong personal friends, 



984 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

who did not feel any particular interest in Garfield's 
election, that he was elected. 

" As to General Grant's third term, he never by word 
or by any letter ever suggested to any one that he 
would like to be nominated for a third term. Neither 
Mr. Conkling, General Logan nor Senator Cameron 
had any assurance from him in any way that he would 
like the nomination, and they proceeded in that fight with- 
out any authority from him whatever. His heart was not 
on a third term at all. He had had enough of politics. 
After his second term he told me, ' I felt like a boy out 
of school.' At first Grant intended to decline. In his con- 
versation with me he said : ' It is very difficult to decline 
a thing which has never been offered ; ' and when he 
left this country for the West Indies I said: 'General, 
you leave this in the hands of your friends.' He knew 
I was opposed to a third term ; and his political friends 
were in favor of it, not merely as friends, but because 
they thought he was the only man who could be elected. 
There is not a line of his in existence where he has ever 
expressed any desire to have that nomination. Towards 
the last, when the canvass became very hot, I suppose 
his natural feeling was that he would like to win. That 
was natural. But he never laid any plans. He never 
encouraged or abetted anything towards a third term 
movement. 

" He was very magnanimous to those who differed 
Irom liim, and when 1 asked him what distressed him 
most in his political life he said : ' To be deceived by 
those I trusted.' He had a good 7?ia?iy distfcsscs. 

"Apropos ot his power of thinking and of expressing 
his thoughts, he wrote with great facility and clearness. 
His centennial address, at tiie opening of the Exhibition 
in 1876, was hastily prepared at my house, and there were 
only one or two corrections in the whole matter. When 
he went to England he wrote me a letter of fourteen 
pages, giving me an account of his reception in England. 
The same post tliat brought that letter contained a letter 
from Mr. John Walter, proprietor of the London Times, 
savin<^ that he had seen our mutual frit-nd. (iencral 



MR. CHILDS'S RECOLLECTIONS. 985 

Grant, on several occasions, and wondering- how he was 
pleased with his reception in England, The. letter which 
I had received was so apropos that I telegraphed it over 
that very day to the London Times — fourteen pages of 
manuscript — without one word being altered, and the 
London Times next morning published this letter with 
an editorial. It happened that the cablegram arrived in 
London the very night the General was going through 
the London Times office to see the establishment. In 
the letter he said he thought the English people admir- 
able, and he was deeply sensible of the unexpected atten- 
tion and kindness shown him ; the letter was written to 
a friend, he not supposing that it would ever be put in 
print, and not one word had to be altered. I cite this to 
show General Grant's facility in writing. 

" In illustration of his perception of financial matters I 
remember an instance. On one of the great financial 
questions before Congress he was consulting with Mr. A. 
J. Drexel, of Philadelphia, whom he regarded as one of 
his strongest personal friends, and the General expressed 
certain views, saying that he had contemplated writing a 
message. Mr, Drexel combated his views, and the 
General reconsidered the matter and wrote a veto, 
showing that he was open to conviction. Here was a 
matter he had considered, he thought, fully, and w^hen 
this new light was given to him by Mr. Drexel he at 
once changed and wrote a veto instead of favoring it. 
A great many people had an idea that General Grant 
was very much set in his opinions ; but while he had his 
opinions, at the same time he was always open to con- 
viction. Very often in talking with him he wouldn't 
make an observation, and when you had got through it 
would be difficult to tell exactly whether he had grasped 
the subject or not, but in a very short time, if you alluded 
to the matter again, you would find that he had grasped 
it thoroughly. His power of observation and mental 
assimilation was remarkable. There was no nonsense 
about him. He was always neat in dress, but not 
fastidious. He said he got cured of his pride in regi- 
mentals when he came home from West Point. 



986 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"Speaking on one or two occasions of the burial of 
soldiers, he observed that his old chief, General Scott, 
was buried at West Point, and that he would like to be 
buried there also. This was several years ago and 
mentioned merely in casual conversation. And I think 
once or twice afterwards it might have been alluded to 
incidentally. 

"There was a paragraph in the newspapers recently 
referring to the speech of Hon. Chauncey Depew that 
Grant had saved the country twice. I don't know what 
could have been meant by that paragraph. In the 
Electoral Commission he saved a great deal of trouble, 
but whether he saved the country or not is another 
question. I don't know whether or not that could be 
the implication. What I have said about the Electoral 
Commission I have said of mv own knowledcre. 

"General Grant, surrounded by those he knew well, 
always did two-thirds of the talking. He was a reticent 
and diffident man in general company, and it was not 
until he was out of the Presidency that he became a 
public speaker. He told a story that he was notified 
once that he was expected to make a speech in reply to 
one which was given him, and he looked it over and 
wrote his answer carefully, but when he got up he was 
stricken dumb. He utterly lost himself and could not 
say a word. After that he did not want to hear what 
was going to be said, and never prepared anything. A 
gentleman told me that, in going to Liverpool and Man- 
chester, a committee came down to meet him, and 
brought an address of what they were going to say to 
show it to him. He said, ' No. I have had one experi- 
ence. I don't want to see it.' The last speech he ever 
made, the last time he ever addressed the public, was 
last summer, a year ago this month, at Ocean Grove. 
Governor Oglesby was staying with him at his cottage, 
and George H. Stuart, who was one of his earliest and 
dearest friends, came up to ask him if he would not 
come down to Ocean Grove, being the first time he 
appeared in public since his misfortunes. He was then 
lame, and was compelled to use his crutches. He found 



MR. CHILDS'S RECOLLECTIONS. 987 

ten thousand people assembled. They cheered him, and 
he arose to make a few remarks. After saying a few 
words he utterly broke down, and the tears trickled down 
his cheeks. That was the last time he ever appeared 
in public. 

"A year ago this month attention was first directed to 
his disease. He told me he had a dryness in his throat, 
and it seemed to trouble him, and whenever he ate a 
peach, of which he was very fond, he always suffered 
pain. I said Dr. Da Costa, one of the most eminent 
physicians of the country, was coming down to spend a 
few days with me. He was an old friend, and would be 
glad to look into the matter. Dr. Da Costa, on arriv- 
ing, went over to the General's house, examined him 
carefully, gave a prescription, and asked the General 
who his family physician was. General Grant said For- 
dyce Barker, and he was advised to see him at once. I 
could see that the General was suffering a good deal, 
though uncomplaining, and during- the summer several 
times he asked me if I had seen Da Costa, and seemed 
to want to know exactly what was the matter with him. 
General Grant, after he got worse, said to me : ' I want 
to come over and see you, and have a talk with Da 
Costa.' He was not afraid of the disease after he 
knew all about it, and the last time I saw him, just before 
he went to Mount McGregor, he said : ' Now, Mr. Childs, 
I have been twice within a half a minute of death. I 
realize it fully, and my life was only preserved by the 
skill and attention of my physicians. I have told them 
the next time to let me go.' 

" The General had great will-power, and the determina- 
tion to finish his book kept him up. He quickly made up 
his mind that it was a fatal disease, but he was resolute 
to live till his work was done. He said : If I had been 
an ordinary man I would have been dead long ago.' 

"In orood health General Grant would smoke a 

o 

dozen very large, strong cigars a day ; but he could stop 
smoking at any time. He told me that, towards the 
latter part of last summer, he was smoking fewer and 
milder cigars, perhaps two or three a day. In Feb- 



988 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ruary of this last year he expected to pay me a visit. 
He wrote, saying: 'The doctor will not allow me to 
leave until the weather gets warmer. I am now quite 
well in every way, except a swelling of the tongue 
above the root, and the same thing in the tonsils just 
over it. It is very difficult for me to swallow enough 
to maintain mv strencrth, and nothing crives me so much 
pain as to swallow water.' I asked him about that, and 
he said : ' If you could imagine what molten lead would 
be going down your throat, that is what I feel when I 
am swallowing.' In that letter he further said, *I have 
not smoked a cigar since about the 20th of November ; 
for a day or two I felt as though I would like to smoke, 
but after that I never thought of it.' 

" I remember a year ago a number of the scien- 
tists wrote that they would meet in Montreal from all 
parts of the world. Sir Wm, Thomson and others 
asked whether I would present them to General Grant. 
Some of them had met him. Of course, I was very 
glad to present them. I said to him in the morning: 
* General, the scientists from Canada are coming down 
here, and they are very anxious to pay their respects to 
you.' 'Oh,' he replied, 'I have met some of these 
people abroad ; I will be very glad to see them.' They 
came to my house, and we walked across the lawn to 
the General's. He sat on the piazza and could not 
stand alone, but was on his crutches, and was presented 
to every one of them, shaking hands with each one. He 
would say to one gentleman, ' How are you. Professor? 
I met you in Liverpool ; ' and to another, 'Why, how 
are you ? I met you in London,' and, ' I am glad to see 
you ; I met you in Manchester.' So he recognized each 
of these visitors as soon as he laid eyes on them, and 
they told me afterward, 'Why, I only met him casually 
once with a party of people.' This power of recogni- 
tion was remarkable. I asked him afterwards whether 
he had lost the power. He answered, ' No. I have not 
lost the power. If I fix my mind on a person I never 
forget him, but I see so many that I don't always do it.' 
I can illustrate an instance of his memory of j)ersons. 



MR. CHILDS'S RECOLLECTIONS. 989 

During one of the times he was staying in Philadelphia 
we were walking down Chestnut street together, and in 
front of a large jeweller's establishment a lady came out 
of a store and was entering her carriage. General 
.Grant walked up to her, shook hands with her, and put 
her in the carriage. ' General, did you know that 
lady ? ' ' Oh, yes,' he replied ; ' I know her.' ' Where 
did you see her ? ' ' Well, I saw her a good many years 
ago out in Ohio and at boarding-school. She was one 
of the girls there.' ' Did you never see her before or 
since } ' He said, ' No.' The lady was the daughter 
of a very prominent Ohio man. Judge Jewett, and the 
next time she saw me she said : ' I suppose you told 
General Grant who I was.' I said I did not. ' Why, 
that is very remarkable,' she answered, in a surprised 
tone ; * I was only one of two or three hundred girls, and 
I only saw him at school. I have never seen him since.' 

" The man who was, perhaps, nearer to him than 
any one in his cabinet was Hamilton Fish. He had 
the greatest regard for the latter's judgment. It was 
more than friendship — it was genuine affection between 
them., and General Grant always appreciated Mr. Fish's 
staying in his cabinet. Mr. Fish, if he had been gov- 
erned by his own feelings, would have left the cabinet. 
It was General Grant's desire to have Mr. Fish as his 
successor in the Presidency. 

"Apropos of the Indian matter, he told me that, as a 
young lieutenant, he had been thrown among the 
Indians, and had seen the unjust treatment they had 
received at the hands of the white men. He then made 
up his mind if he ever had any influence or power it 
should be exercised to try to ameliorate their condition, 
and the Indian Commission was his idea. He wished to 
appoint the very best men in the United States. He 
selected William Welsh. William E. Dodge, Felix- 
Bruno, of Pittsburgh, Colonel Robert Campbell, of St. 
Louis, and George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia. They 
were a portion of the Indian Commission which he 
always endeavored to establish, and they always could 
count upon him in aiding them in every possible way. 



990 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

He took the greatest interest always, and never lost 
that interest. Even to his last moments he watched the 
progress of the matter, but it was a very difficult matter 
to handle at any time, and then especially, as there was 
a great Indian ring to break up. 

" He was of a very kindly nature, generous to a fault. 
I would often remonstrate with him and say, 'General, 
you can't afford to do tliis,' and I would try to keep 
people away from him. In the case of one subscription, 
when they wanted him to contribute to a certain matter 
which I did not think he was able to do, I wouldn't let 
them go near him. Some injudicious person went there 
and he subscribed a thousand dollars. 

" General Grant loved his family, and seemed happiest 
in his home circle, surrounded by his devoted wife, their 
children and orandchildren. I have never seen a case 
of greater domestic happiness than existed in the Grant 
family. Perfect love had indeed ' cast out all fear,' and 
it was delightful to see his grandchildren romping with 
him and saying just what came uppermost in their 
thoughts in their childish innocency. 

"General Grant always felt that he was badly treated 
by Halleck, but he rarely ever spoke unkindly of any 
one. In fact, I could hardly say he spoke unkindly, but 
he did feel that he was not fairly treated by Halleck. 
During one of my last visits to him he showed me his 
army orders, which he had kept in books. He had a copy 
of everything he ever did or said in regard to army matters. 
He was very careful about that, as he had written all the 
orders with his own hand. He pointed to one of this 
large series of books and said that it was fortunate that 
he had kept these things, because several of the orders 
could not be found on any record at the War Depart- 
ment. But during my long friendship I never heard 
him more than two or three times speak unkindly of 
Halleck, although he was very unjustly treated by him — 
a fact which I think will be borne out by the records. I 
told him of somctliing tliat occurred to me in connection 
with one of the parties in charge of the records at 
Washington. He had been a strong friend of Halleck, 



MR. CH/LDS'S RECOLLECTIONS. 981 

and prejudiced ac^ainst General Grant in the office, 
where all these things passed through his hands. But, 
after twenty years of examination, he said there was not 
a line reladng to Grant that did not elevate him In the 
minds of thinking people, 

"It was through me that General Grant first came to 
Long Branch. He always enjoyed being here. He was 
totally unspoiled by all the honors conferred upon him. 
He was simple, unaffected, and attached all the people 
to him. He drove out twice a day, and knew every by- 
way within twenty miles. It was his habit to drive out 
every morning after breakfast for a long distance, and 
then he would come home and read the papers or any 
books he might have in hand. He was very careful in 
answering his correspondence. Most of his letters were 
begging letters of some kind or other, and I remember 
an incident showing his justness and tenderness of heart. 
Once he had two cases of petition. He said, ' I did 
a thing to-day that gave me great pleasure. There was 
a poor Irishwoman who had a boy in the army that 
came down from New York and had spent all her 
money. She had lost several boys in the army, and 
this one she wished to get out of the service to help 
support her, I gave her an order and was very glad to 
do it,' but he did not add that he gave her also some 
money. ' In contrast to that there was a lady of a very 
distinguished family of New York, who came here and 
wanted me to remove her son from Texas. He was an of- 
ficer in the army, and I told her I could not do that. My 
rich petitioner then said, " Well, could you not remove 
his regiment?" at which, you can guess, I could hardly 
help laughing.' Grant didn't hesitate a moment to re- 
fuse a rich woman's imreasonable request, but it gave 
him pleasure to grant the petition of a poor Irishwoman. 

" He was very kind to the poor, and, in fact, to every- 
body, especially to widows and children of army officers. 
I gave hipi the names of quite a number of army officers' 
sons for appointment in the navy or army. He said, ' I 
am glad to have those, I like to appoint army and navy 
men's children, because they have no political inlhience,' 



992 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

One-tenth of his appointments were the children of de- 
ceased army or naval officers, young men without in- 
fluence to get into West Point. There was hardly an 
army man, Confederate or Union, who was not a friend 
of General Grant. For General Sheridan he had an af- 
fectionate regard, and I have often heard him say that he 
thought him the oreatest fiorhter that ever lived, and if 
there was another war he would be the leader. He never 
excited the jealousy or enmity of these people, he was so 
just. When he was mistaken there was no man more 
ready to acknowledge a mistake. He showed a great 
tenacity in sticking to friends longer than he ought to 
have done. When I spoke to him about this he would 
answer, 'Well, if I believed all I hear, I would believe 
everybody was bad.' General Grant would say there 
was nobody who came in contact with him but that he 
was traduced, and secondly, he very often had to depend 
upon his own judgment in the matter. One of his ex- 
pressions was, * Never desert a friend under fire.' 

" General Grant rarely alluded to those who had 
abused his confidence, even to his most intimate friends. 
No matter how much a man had injured him, he was 
wont to say that he felt to the end what he might have 
felt in the outset. 

" Grant had the greatest admiration for Joseph John- 
ston, and Johnston for him ; and when it was first pro- 
posed to bring up the retiring bill, Johnston, who was 
then in Congress, was to take the initiative in the 
matter. The passage of that bill gave great gratifica- 
tion to the General. I happened to be with him on the 
4th of March, and was talking with him, and said : ' Gen- 
eral, that bill of yours will pass to-day.' ' Mr. Childs,' 
he said, * you know that during the last day of a session 
everything is in a turmoil. Such a thing cannot pos- 
sibly be passed.' 'Well,' I said, ' Mr. Randall assured 
me that that thing would be passed.' He answered : ' If 
anybody in the world could pass that bill I think Mr, 
Randall could. But I don't think it is at all likely, and I 
have given up all expectation.' While I was talking 
fthis was about i 1.30 a. m.) I got a telegram from Mr. 



\ 



MR. CHILDS'S RECOLLECTIONS. 993 

A. J. Drexel, saying the bill had passed, and the General 
seemed exceedingly gratified. I remarked, 'General, 
the part that some of the men took in that matter wa^ 
not justified.' ' Oh, perhaps they thought they were 
right. I have no feeling at all ; I am only grateful that 
the thing has been passed,' he answered. Mrs. Grant 
came in and I said, ' Mrs. Grant, we have got good news ; 
the bill is passed.' She cried out, ' Hurrah! our old com- 
mander is back.' In answer to a remark that it would 
be very good if it could be dated from the time of going 
out, he said, 'Oh, no; the law is to date from the time 
one accepts. In the early part of the war I saw in the 
newspapers that I was appointed to a higher rank, and I 
wrote on at once and accepted on the strength of the 
newspaper report. In about two months' time, through 
red tape, I got my appointment, but I got my pay from 
the time I wrote accepting the newspaper announce- 
ment, and I saved a month's pay by that.' 

"As to Fitz-John Porter, I spoke to him during the 
early stages of it, at a time when his mind had been pre- 
judiced by some around him, and when he was very 
busy. Afterwards, when he looked into the matter, he 
said he was only sorry that he had so long delayed 
going at the examination as he ought to have done. He 
felt that if ever a man had been treated badly Porter 
was. He had examined the case most carefully, gone 
over every detail, and he was perfectly well satisfied that 
Porter was right. He wanted to do everything in his 
power to have him righted, and his only regret was that 
he should have neglected so long and have allowed him 
to rest under injustice. 

-' There are few men that would take a back track as 
General Grant did so publicly, so determinedly and so 
consistently right through. I had several talks with him, 
and he was continually reiterating his regrets that he 
had not done justice to Porter when he had the oppor- 
tunity. He ran counter to a great many of his political 
friends in this matter, but his mind was absolutely clear. 
Not one man in a thousand would go back on his record 
in such a matter, especially when he was not in accord 
8N 



994 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

with the Grand Army or his strong political friends. 
Grant went into the matter most carefully, and his publi- 
cations show how thorouc^hly he examined the subject, 
but he never wavered after his mind was fixed. Then 
he set to work to repair the injury done Porter. If Grant 
had had time to examine it while he was President he 
would have carried it through. That was his great 
regret. He felt that while he had power he could have 
passed it and ought to have done it. When Grant took 
pains and time to look into the matter no amount of 
personal feeling or friendship for others would keep him 
from doinor the rieht thinor. He could not be swerved 
from the riofht. 

"Another great trait of his character was his purity 
in every way. I never heard him express or make an 
indelicate allusion in any manner or shape. There is noth- 
ing I ever heard him say that could not be repeated in 
the presence of women. If a man was brought up for 
an appointment, and it was shown that he was an im- 
moral man, he would not appoint him, no m.atter how 
great the pressure brought to bear upon him. 

"General Grant would sit in my library with four or 
five others talking freely and doing perhaps two-thirds 
of the talking. Let a stranger enter whom he did not 
know, and he would say nothing more during that even- 
ing. That was one peculiarity of his. He wouldn't 
talk to people unless he understood them. At a dinner 
party with a certain set that he knew all well he would 
lead in the conversation, but any alien or novel element 
would seal his tongue. This great shyness or reticence 
sometimes, perhaps, made him misunderstood." 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

COLONEL MCCLURE's ESTIMATE. 

The great men of the war period — Lincoln, Stevens and Thomas — Comparative 
estimates of the three — The Lincoln cabinet and its jealousies — General Grant's 
position in history — An incident of the early days of the war — Grant's recog- 
nition of the situation — What Stanton said. 

There are few public men whose true position in the 
accepted history of the world can be defined, either 
during their lives, or until the generation in which they 
achieved distinction has passed away. All greatness 
must be attained by sharp conflict with the prejudices, 
passions and interests of others. There is no victor in 
peace or in war, in the forum or field, without vanquished, 
and the presence of greatness always dwarfs itself by the 
inevitable presence of the infirmities which are the inher- 
itance of all, and which are often least restrained in those 
who overshadow others in the race of life. I can recall 
but three men, of all the chieftains and civilians who shed 
the richest lustre on the annals of the history of human 
achievment in our civil war, who steadily grew larger in 
stature as they were more closely approached. They 
were Abraham Lincoln, Thaddeus Stevens and George 
H. Thomas, and the one man who never exhibited the 
weaknesses common to all was General Thomas ; but 
that he was not exempt from them was told in the silent 
but impressive eloquence of his death. 

The victor of Nashville, like the victor of Gettysburg, 
fretted his great life away. Lincoln and Stevens wore their 
infirmities on their sleeves, and they were as different as 
their opposite characteristics of greatness, but their infirm- 
ities were dwarfed, even on the closest inspection, by the 
rare intellectual power which could subordinate all things 
to great ends. Lincoln is secure in history as statesman, 
patriot, emancipator ; Stevens is yet the ungainly statue 

995 



996 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

that will attain symmetry and grandeur only by the dis- 
tance of the pinnacle of the temple on which time alone 
can place him. He was the Commoner of the nation in ils 
sorest trial, and in the greatest triumphs of man for man, 
and that is the only position born of a free government 
that favoritism or fortuitous circumstance cannot o^ain. 
Presidents, Cabinets, Senators are often accidents, but 
the Commoner of the people in the popular branch of 
the government must be single from all his fellows in 
merit. 

It was my fortune to know all the great actors in the 
late civil war, and to see many of them in the green and 
in the dry. They were much as other men of lesser 
note i^ all but their achievements, and their infirmities 
were often as conspicuous as their greatness. In civil 
and military circles, ambition, jealousy, intrigue and all the 
passions of littleness were almost as common as in the 
ward political conclave. There were generals who in some 
measure share the honors of the Union arms, whom justice 
would have shot by loyal platoons, and there were 
statesmen whose fervency in the cause of patriotism will 
be noted in history, to whom the banishment of Val- 
landigham would have been less than half-way justice. 
Military and political necessities saved many weak and bad 
men from just obloquy, and they have forged lies which 
will be crystallized into history. 

I recall the Lincoln Cabinet as unable to meet in 
full conference for weeks, because of the petty jeal- 
ousies and bickerings of great men, and at a time when 
they were administering the government in a practi- 
cally beleaguered capital. I have heard commanders 
of the Army of the Potomac and their chief lieutenants 
accuse each other of incompetency and treason, and 
there never was a great campaign of that army until 1864, 
when there was even an approach to harmony in the 
councils to which were entrusted the safety of the Re- 
public. Success was made impossible by the internal 
conflicts of greatness, but success came at last to the 
Union arms by a harmony in authority that was enforced, 
and not voluntary. The man and the occasion came 



COL ONRL Mc CL URE'S ES TIM A TE. 997 

together; the necessity was the life of the nation that 
had made ambition and interest bow before it ; the man 
was Ulysses S. Grant. 

General Grant's position in history can be as well de- 
fined to-day by the intelligent observer of public events and 
public sentiment as itwili b > when all who knewhis infirm- 
ities shall have passed away and memory of them shall 
have perished " None but himself can be his parallel." 
There is no one of his fellow-chieftains within reach of 
comparison. 

There are those living who believe that others 
could have succeeded as well or better had they reached 
Grant's opportunities ; but neither the ruling sentiment 
of the present nor the records of history take pause for 
such remote possibilities. There is nothing successful 
but success in war, and that tells the whole story. Gen- 
eral Grant met the full measure of the nation's sore 
necessities, and he is the only warrior who did it. His 
personal weaknesses or his military errors were effaced 
by Vicksburg and Appomattox, and the pages of history 
will crystallize into imperishable fame his distinction as 
the first soldier of the world in his day. 

Had General Grant been called to Washington in 
1 86 1, or at any time before 1863, another than Grant 
might have enacted the final drama that he enacted at 
Appomattox. When war first appalled the country, 
Grant's methods would have doomed him to dismissal 
and possibly dishonor, if in command in Washington. 

I can best illustrate the education that was necessary 
to prepare the country for Grant's bloody campaign 
from the Rapidan to Richmond by recording two ex- 
pressions from General Burnside. In the fall of 1861, 
General McClellan was in front of Washington, facing 
Manassas, with an army of probably 1 50,000 men. It 
was a rare Virginia autumn, and until late in December 
the roads were dry and the weather genial. There was 
unusual impatience for McClellan to advance, but he 
tarried until winter came. 

Why he did it, and whether wisely or unwisely, I 
do not discuss; but at a social gathering at Willard's 



998 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Hotel, late in the fall of 1861, I pressed inquiries on 
the subject with earnestness upon Generals Burnside, 
Heintzelman and others, to which Burnside iinally made 
this frank reply, — " Yes, he could march upon Manas- 
sas at will and he could take Richmond, but it would 
cost 10,000 lives to do it." I was appalled into si- 
lence, as were all present, at the sacrihce named as 
necessary to capture Richmond by Manassas, and the 
country would then have been sickened at such a cost 
for the possession of the Confederate Capital. On the 
morning of the second day after the battle of Fred- 
ericksburg I saw General Burnside at the War-Office, 
and, in answer to my inquiry about the loss sustained by 
that disastrous conflict, he answered, " Our loss, includ- 
ing killed, wounded, missing and even scratched, is 07ily 
17,000." 

The sacrifice of that battle shocked the country, 
and did much to dispirit the loyal sentiment of the 
North; but even then the fruitless sacrifice of 17,000 
men was not weighed for a moment against the great issue 
of the Union of the States, while the sacrifice of 10,000 men 
in 1 861 for the capture of Richmond would have flung the 
pall of mourning and despair over the land. But after 
Fredericksburfj came Chancellorsville, with its ereater 
loss and greater defeat, and after that came Gettysburg 
with more than 45,000 of blue and gray warriors strewn 
upon the field, and then, and only then, was the nation 
schooled to the sacrifice necessary to call Grant and 
Grant's military methods to supreme command. 

When 1864 came there had been great victories in the 
West, and the Father of Waters ac^ain went " unvexed 
to the sea ;" but Lee's army was the heart of the rebel- 
lion and it had never suffered a great defeat. Gettys- 
burg stood alone as a claimed Union victory, but the 
measure of that victory was not then known by the nation. 
It was, in fact, the decisive battle of the war but only 
the South appreciated the completeness of Meade's 
triumph for his cause. 

The hunger-cry of the country was for peace by the 
speedy destruction of Lee's army, and all questions 



COL ONEL McCL URE'S ESTIMA IE. 999 

of cost of life and treasure were overlooked "^ t^^e 
demand for a restored Union by conquered rebellion. 
The occasion had fully ripened, for the man ; the man 
had fully ripened for the occasion, and Grant assumed 
command of the army with but one purpose, and 
of him was expected but one achievement,— the an- 
nihilation of Lee's army, regardless of cost Instead 
of calculating the loss of 10,000 men as all calculated it 
in 1 861, Grant lost more than 10,000 men in consecutive 
battles day after day, and often in fruitless conflict until 
he left behind him between the Rapidan and the James, 
in killed, wounded and missing, more men than Lee ever 

had on his front. . , 

But the wide, bloody gaps in his ranks were promptly 
filled up, and as the dead and wounded were borne 
back to Washington, other tens of thousands of fresh 
warriors passed them in the march to take thejr vacant 
places. Secretary Stanton fairly expressed the senti- 
ment of the country that sustained Grant, soon after 
Grant had passed the Wilderness. n d.scussmg the 
campaign with the writer, the War Mm.ster pointed out 
Grant's position on a large map and sa'd: 

" Grant is now there ; he will soon be suppl ed from the 
James; he will have every fallen man promptly replaced 
Lee must crrow weaker with every battle and Lee s army 
won-rsurvTve the campaign. Grant will have all the men 
he wants without que'stiol. ; he will plan and execute his 
own movements without hindrance; he is the greates 
General of the world, and he will soon give us the final 
victory we should have had years ago. , 

Grant had grown even above Stanton s imperious com- 
mand, and that was an achievement that no other com- 
mander had dreamed of. He was a thoroughly trained sol- 
dier He had no taste for dress parade or for the ephemeral 
fam; sought by newspaper Generals; but he had the one 
qua ity that distinguished him from all other command- 
ers-he rose to the full measure of every enlarged du y 
and responsibility and fully trusted his own power to 
meet their requirements. 

He never lost faith in his army or in himself. He was 



1000 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

no more self-reliant as a Brigadier than he was as Lieu- 
tenant-General, and he never confessed defeat. Defeated 
he was time and again, but when others would have fled 
from Shiloh, or from Vicksburg, or from the Wilderness, 
he had only one order — advance ! It was his matchless 
pluck that saved Shiloh, that saved Vicksburg, that saved 
the Wilderness campaign, that captured Lee and Rich- 
mond, and he wrote a volume of history- in the Wilder- 
ness dispatch that only one man could have written, " 1 
propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." 
Ihat one brief sentence sums up the military attributes 
of the man, and it tells the whole story of Grant's ever- 
brightening star while others faded in strategic hesitation. 
That he erred at times in his military movements is doubt- 
less the truth, but he must have been more than mortal to, 
have escaped mistakes. The conviction is general that he 
erred at Shiloh and that he erred at Cold Harbor, but 
who recalls it in analyzing him as the first soldier of the 
Republic ? When the nation was ready for him, he 
came ; he gave the nation victory and peace, and he was 
crowned in fadeless chaplets as the Chieftain of the 
first government of the peoples of the earth. 



CHAPTER LXX. 

THE commander's LAST DAYS. 

General Grant's last sickness — The pathos of his twilight days — His sufferings over 
the failure — The beginning of the end — The work upon his book — Tire coming 
of Nellie — His sixty-third birtlulay — The attack of April — Taken to Mt. 
McGregor — General Buckner's visit — National grief — Reunion of the sections — 
His last pathetic letter — Death. 

The rich, splendid rhythm of General Orant's charac- 
ter was never broken. The serene fortitude held to 
the end. Through the profound pathos of his twilight 
days, when the sombre shadow of death fell ominously 
across the summer brightness, he was still the same. 
Patient, with the patience of tenderness ; considerate, 
with the thoughtfulness of love ; resigned, with the dig- 
nity of a soldier, he turned his wasting face calmly 
towards the one foe to whom he must surrender his un- 
stained sword. He buoyed himself with no false hopes. 
He allowed no momentary fancy of returning vigor to 
blind his eyes. He knew that life lay behind him and that 
the dews of the great mystery were gathering upon his 
brow. The wonderful record of his career — of white- 
souled patriotism, of earnest manhood, of fierce events, 
of generous kindliness, of great honors — was almost 
made up, and God stood with waiting pen to \wr\X.^ Jinis. 

The great commander's final da\s were not happy 
ones. What should have been the mellow gloaming of 
his great life had sharp and bitter recollections. There 
was an ever-present memory in his mind of a trust that 
had been betrayed. There was in his ears the sound of 
the crash of a delusion that had been built upon the 
sand. Back to haunt him again came the poverty, which 
had lingered by his hearthstone during his youth and 
early manhood. Ingratitude and dishonesty had taken 
advantage of his confiding nature, and the disease that was 
destroying his body was not nearly as pregnant with 

1001 



1(X)2 



LIFE OJ' GKiXERAL GRANT. 



suffering as the disease which was eating away his heart. 
Yet he struorcrled under it nobly and stronelv. His 
magnificent sense of duty still ruled him. The bolt of 
financial ruin fell upon him in his later days and his finst 
thought was tor his family. Tlie ruin that had over- 
whelmed him included those whom he lo\ed best. The 
splendid sense of domestic tenderness was still para- 
mount, and the last months of his life were spent in 




MRS. ULVSSES S. GR.ANT. 

writing the story of his career, that those who depended 
upon him should have something for their support after 
he had laid down the now heav\ l)urden of living and 
had passed into history. Never was a book written 
under circumstances more pathetic. Never was there 
shown a finer instinct antl realization of self-sacrifice. 
Never was a great life t:ndc(.l as greatly. 



THE COMMANDER'S LAST DAYS. 



1003 



It was in December of 1 884. that the fatal cancer 
made its appearance. He was placed at once under 
medical treatment, and seemed to grow better. Still 
his sufferings were very great. For a quarter of a cen- 
tury he had lived under a terrible strain, and his con- 
stitution had been so insidiously, but dangerously 
undermined, that it could not readily throw off an attack 




COL. FKl'.nERTCK D. GRANT. 

that might have lain dormant for a long time under 
more fortunate circumstances. Then came the crash of 
the failure, and mental discouragement was added to do 
its deadly work upon a failing physical vitality. Mind 
was exercising its occult but mighty influence upon the 
dissolution of" matter. The hopelessness that would not 



1004 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



resist disease but for an object was assisting the great 
destroyer. 

Yet he was not to pass away quickly. He had found 
the object in his memoirs, and he worked away upon 
them constantly. Not from any greed of gain, not from 
any vanity in past achievement, but from the practical 
sense of dut)- which was nlwavs foromost in his mind. 




ULYSSES S. GUAM, JR. 

In fighting death ihc dying man was also fighting want 
away from the darkened and lonely door of the true 
wife who had been at his side through all his trials and 
all his triumphs. For her sake he struggled against the 
inevitable, and lived on, and wrote on. when die Shadow 
was dark upon the pages. 



THE COMMANDER'S J. A ST J)AYS. 



1U05 



He was no longer the man he had been. His sturdy 
frame had lost its strength. His voice had died to a 
whisper. His face was emaciated, and his eyes were 
sunken and dim. He was walking- down the last path, 
bending under the bunion of a great weariness. Yet 




JESSE R. GK.\NT. 

his memory and his mind were as clear as ever. His 
marvelous will was still unbroken. The soldier of many 
battles was fighting his last and greatest. It was not 
until his book was completed that his longing for an end 
to the suffering came. And then he wrote upon his 
tablets with trembling hand : " I want to go!" 



lOOd LIFE OF GFNERAL GRANT. 

For nearl\- a year before the cancer at the root of his 
tongue fully developed itself General Grant had been 
virtually a cripple. He had sustained a fall on the side- 
walk, in front of his house, the winter before, from the 
effects of which he never recovered. His hip had been 
seriously injured, and he was compelled to go about on 
crutches. The cancer was first discovered by Dr. Da 
Costa, who advised him to see his physician. Dr. I^'ordyce 
Barker at once. Subsequendy, Drs. Shrady and Douo-- 
lass were called in. When the treatment first began 
the disease seemed to yield to it, but on May 6th, 1S84, 
the failure of the firm of Grant & Ward occurred, and, 
after that, the General's only desire was to provide for 
his family and die. 

The failure was a great and bitter shock to the chief. 
He had been ignorant of the affairs of the firm, and 
believed that it was in the most prosperous condition. 
When it closed its doors, he was consumed with the 
fear that the name which he had made so great, and 
which he had guarded so carefully, would be dragged 
in the dust. He felt that those who had betrayed him 
had used his friendship for despicable purposes, and he 
was bewildered at the devious mazes into which they 
had dragged him. Exceedingly sensitive to criticism 
upon his modves, with a past experience of the quick 
judgment of a cruel public, he feared that he might be 
included in the general condemnation which followed 
the fall. The fear was not realized, but it preved upon 
his mind night and day. His hours were full of painful 
thought. Fhe sleep which used to come so readily to 
his pillow in times of the greatest responsii)ility was now 
no longer his friend. The splendid vitality which had 
sustained him in past trials was gone. There was no 
hope ahead and much anguish of brain in the present. 
He was a broken old man, with little recuperative 
power, and a bitter cup had been held to his lips. 

It was at this time that the disease took its strong 
hold. It found the advantage in his weakness and 
mental depression, and jiushed it with deadly effect. 




1(X)7 



1008 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Stunned as he was, at lirst, by the greatness of the 
calamity which had fallen upon him he did not resist. 
He longed for death and its dreamless peace. The world, 
outside, seemed a vague whirl of wicked suspicion and 
falsity, and he wanted to get away from and out of it 
to the sombre silence which would never be broken by 
its murmurs. 

The cloud lifted slightly, however. From every side 
came condolence and sympathy. In the great darkness 
of the moral tragedy he had misjudged it. He had 
been " too clear in his great offices," too long in the 
fierce light of public discussion, to be entirely misunder- 
stood. Slander ventured not near his sick room, and 
foes became friends. There came a universal reaction 
of generosity and justice, which told him that the repub- 
lic had not fororotten ; that it w^as not unerateful. His 
name was not to go mto the dark shadow of the grave with 
the darker shadow of dishonor upon it. In the days of 
the nation's despondency he had sent to it many a mes- 
sage of cheer from the batde-fields of his advancing 
armies ; in the time of his owm depression the old debt 
was repaid with interest. Every voice was full of hope 
and assurance. North and South joined to bid him be 
of good cheer. 

It was then that he began upon his book. The idea 
grew out of the writing of a series of articles for the 
Cejitury magazine. This experience taught him that 
he could still do something for the loved ones he must 
leave behind him. Each day brought him warmer 
greetings, and he knew that again the country was 
behind him. It had not even allowed an argument upon 
the subject of his connection with the ill-fated firm. 
The old love for the p-reat commander had erown 
stronger m his affliction, and it was with a clearer mind 
and with higher spirits that he entered upon his literary 
labors. How he continued them through all the pain- 
thrilled months which followed the world knows. 

The winter wore away, and the first raw, gusty da)s 
of March came. There had been intervals of exhilara- 




1009 



1010 LIFE Of GENERAL GRANT. 

tion in the monotony of depression. At times he almost 
believed that he would get well, but the countr)' had 
begun to understand that he was a very sick man. The 
nation had lost all hope in his ultimate recovery, and it 
was virtually a death-watch. The pain and irritation 
were always in his throat. Rest did not refresh him. 
His voice had lost its tone, and was but a husky ghost 
of what it had once been. The swellino- at the back 
part of his tongue became aggravated and his physical 
torture was unceasing. Stimulants or anodynes were 
constantly used. The ulceration and inflammation in- 
creased. There were brief flickerinas in which the 
light flared brighter, but the steady tendency was towards 
the socket. The slightest exposure to a draught 
would bring on serious consequences and overcome the 
apparent improvement which had been the slow growth 
of days. 

Then came a fictitious revival from a gratifying cause. 
There had been for some time before Congress a bill to 
place General Grant on the retired list of the army with 
the full pay of such rank. The session was rapidly 
nearinor its close, and there was much business to be dis- 
posed of. Besides, the House was Democratic while the 
Senate was Republican. There seemed little hope for 
the passage of the bill, yet small as the hope was it was 
fully realized. The bill had passed the Senate and was 
in the Democratic House. There it was in the practiced 
hands of Ex-Speaker Randall, as great a parliamentar- 
ian as the country ever had. Opposing interests 
clamored for recognition, but Mr. Randall passed the 
bill by a practically unanimous vote. It was immediately 
sent to the Senate and the announcement made that 
the House had concurred in the bill authorizing the 
President to nominate one person as General on 
the retired list of the army. A storm of applause 
greeted the announcement. Then Mr. Ingalls arose 
and said : 

" Mr. President, the nation knows who that one person 
is. I ask unanimous consent that the reference of the 



( 




GENERAL C.KA.NT IN HIS EASY CHAIK. (1011) 



1012 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

bill to the committee be waived, and that it be now con- 
sidered by the Senate." 

Senator Garland, who was presiding, stated that the 
bill was a Senate bill, and that only the proper signatures 
were necessary to make it a law. 

The clerk then read President Arthur's nomination of 
General Grant to be General on the retired list, and the 
President /;'(? tevi announced that the nomination would 
be considered in open session. Then came the state- 
ment in usual form : 

"The question is, 'Will the Senate advise and consent 
to this appointment? ' All Senators in favor will say Aye." 

There was a storm of ayes. 

"All opposed. No." 

There was dead silence. 

"The ayes have it unanimously," said the president 
pro ton. 

The nomination was the last message sent by Presi- 
dent Arthur to the Senate. President Cleveland's 
signature to General Grant's commission was his first 
official signature as President, except to the message 
nominating the members of his cabinet. 

In the family home in New York there was anxious 
waitinor for the tidino^s. General Grant did not believe 
that the bill would pass. When the telegram came an- 
nouncing it he was astonished and deeply gratified. 
"Hurrah!" cried Mrs. Grant, "we have the old com- 
mander back again." It is a striking illustration of the 
General's character that of the first thousand dollars he 
received from the government all but twenty-five dollars 
was immediatel)' gi\'en away. 

The month of iVlarch brought him another great joy. 
Nellie Grant Sartoris, his only daughter, whom he 
loved with a tenderness that was womanly, had been 
sent for and she hastened to her father's bedside. The 
meeting between her and her father was ver)' beautiful. 
The General, who had been buoyant with hope and full 
of apparent vigor when she parted from him a little 
more than a year before, was now sadly changed, Sor- 




GENERAL GRANT LEAVING HIS RESIDENCE FOR AN AFTERNOON WALK. 

(101^;) 



1014 LIFE OF GFNERAL GRANT. 

row and suffering had touched his hair and beard and 
left their whiteness behind. He was pale and emaciated. 
And yet, with the tender instinct which was so natural 
to him, he had been daint)' with his toilet that morning, 
and upon his face there was no trace of the pain which 
racked his frame. The old thoughtfulness for others 
was ever present. There was no querulous complain- 
ing, no recitation of woes. Brightl)' and cheerily and 
tenderly he clasped his daughter to his breast, and the 
picture of the dying soldier and his bit of sunshine was 
a very pathetic and a very lovely one. Of this incident 
the poet wrote — 

" His listening soul hears no echo of battle, 

No paean of triumph nor welcome of fame. 
But down through the years comes a little one's prattle, 

And softly he murmurs her idolized name. 
And it seems as if now at his heart she were clinging 

As she clung, in those dear, distant years, to his knee ; 
He sees her fair face and he hears her sweet singing — 

And Nellie is coming from over the sea. 

"While patriot hope stays his fullness of sorrow. 

While our eyes are bedimmed and our voices are low. 
He dreams of the daughter who comes with the morrow, 

Like an angel come back from the dea'- long ago. 
Ah ! what to him now is a nature's emotion 

And what for our love or our grief careth he ? 
A swift-speeding ship is asail on the ocean 

And Nellie is coming from over the sea ! " 

But the disease was stronger than love. It had 
passed beyond the possibilit)' of defeat by intervals of 
brightness. As the month waned it took a stronger hold. 
The General's feebleness increased. His periods of 
depression became deeper and more profound. The 
splendid fortitude was not breaking, but there was a 
profound longing for the end. 'T'^very hour is a week 
of agony," he said. 

On the morning of the second of April the Shadow 
grew very dark. He was .so low that his death seemed 
to be a question of only a few niinutes. The nation 



THE COMMANDER'S LAST DAYS. 



1015 



was hushed and silent. It stood with unbared brow 
before what it beHeved to be a death-bed. But just as 
Hfe had reached the last ebb it beean to flow aeain. He 
grew a little better, and then a great deal better. His 
magnificent constitution had made its last desperate 
rally and won for the nonce. In the evening it was 




The 



MRS. SARTORIS (NELLIE GRANT). 

believed that he would live for some days longer. 
Shadow had again been driven back. 

A day or two later he awoke from a refreshing slum'- 
ber, and related to his physicians a dream : 

"It seemed to me," said he, "as though I had been 
traveling in a foreign country. I had only a single 
satchel, and I was only partially clad. I found to my 



1016 LIFE OF GENFRAL GRANT. 

surprise that I was without any money and separated 
from all my friends. While I was traveling I came to a 
fence. There was a stepping- stile, but it led up to only 
one side of the fence. I climbed over, however, and 
then found that I had left my satchel on the other side. 
I went to go back, but had to pay dut>^ for each step in 
the stile. Then I thought I would go back home and 
borrow the money from Mrs. Grant. I asked her for it, 
but she said she only had seventeen dollars, and that 
was not enough, so just then I woke up and was very 
glad." 

Easter morning broke. It was a beautiful day, fresh 
with the fragrance of Spring. His mind was bright, 
and he seemed free from pain. He sat in his chair at 
the window while the warm fullness of the sun shed its 
glory over him. There was a great longing in his heart 
to go out and breathe in the sweet air, but this was no 
more for him. In the afternoon he said : 'T want to send 
an Easter greeting to the people." At 5,15 the bulle- 
tin was issued. It read : 

" General Grant has just awakened from a short nap, 
and expresses himself as feeling very comfortable. He 
wishes it stated that he is very much touched and grate- 
ful for the prayerful sympathy and interest manifested in 
him by his friends and by those w^ho heretofore have not 
been regarded as such. He says : ' I desire the good 
will of all whether heretofore friends or not,' 

" George F. Shradv." 

On April 7th there was another alarm of immediate 
death by the rupture of a small throat arter)-, but again 
he rallied, and the 27th of the month, which was his 
sixty-third birthday, found him greatly improved. The 
congratulations which poured in upon him were many 
and warm, and in the evening he acknowledged them in 
the following: creneral teleeram : 

" To the various army posts, societies, cities, public 
schools. State corporations, and individuals. North and 
South, who have been so kind as to send me cono-ratu- 




''^^^N. \ •^ 



GENERAL GRANT TAKING HIS DAILY WALK. (1017) 



1018 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

lations on my sixty-third birthday, I wish to offer my 
grateful acknowledgments. The despatches have been 
so numerous and touching in that it \vould have been 
impossible to answer them had I been in perfect health." 

He felt these tokens of popular regard very deeply. 
They were soothing balm to his lacerated spirit. They 
told him that the nation believed in him as never before. 
In all the triumphs of his brightest days he never re- 
ceived such general and hearty homage as now. The 
name which he feared miofht be smirched shone more 
clearly than ever. 

The breath of Summer was hot upon the earth. The 
sun beat pitilessly upon the flags of the great city, and 
the stirless air was heavy with heat. Many offers of a 
cooler resort had been made, but he at last decided to 
accept the Drexel Cottage, at Mt. McGregor. On the 
1 6th of June he left his house and was taken to the train. 
Thousands were there to see the sad departure. 
Thousands who were to look upon him in life for the 
last time. His walk was a totter. The old, familiar 
high hat was now so large that it rested upon his ears. 
Polds of silk were about his neck to hide the swelling 
upon it. His clothes were too large for his shrunken 
frame. In his hand was a heavy stick, and he leaned 
upon it to help himself along. It needed no physicians 
eye to tell that he was walking in the valley of the shadow 
of death. 

Out of the station the locomotive flashed. The river 
"was a stretch of dancing ripples. The foliage was green 
with the tenderness of Summer. Past the sand-pits of 
Sing-Sing, past where the sun touched with glory the 
glistening heights of Tappan Zee, into the gate of the 
Highlands the train rushed. West Point! The name 
was spoken in a whisper, but the General heard it. He 
looked out with sad, pensive, loving eyes. There his 
o-reat career had been born. There had beg-un his su- 
preme loyalty for the flai^ he had saved. There had 
l)een his l^rth as a soldier. The past and the present 
were toivether for one brief moment as the train rumbled 




GENERAL GRANT aOON At IKK HIS ARRIVAL AT MT. McGREGOR. 

(1019) 



1020 LIFE OF GFitFRAL GRANT. 

and roared by. With padietic gaze the end looked 
throuo^h the car windows at the beeinnine. 

The mountains at last. There was purit}' in the air. 
There was the rugged grandeur of nature all around. 
The pine trees bowed a solemn welcome. From the 
ofreen mountams came fresh breezes to ereet him. The 
battle-field of Saratoga, not far away, gave the place an 
historical foreground. Yet still there was a sombre tone 
in all the brightness. The moody mountains seemed to 
know that the hero had come amontr them to die. He 
was not the only guest. The Shadow had come, too. 
' The first gush of the higher air revived him, but only 
for the time. He slept peacefully, and the weariness 
was not so near But the disease had taken its final 
grasp, and there was no hope. He was absolutely at its 
mercy. Its terrible coquetry with life could last little 
longer. The victim was tired and anxious for the end. 
Still he breathed more freely in the purer atmosphere. 
Day after day he would sit on the veranda of the cot- 
tage, his melancholy eyes turned down the valley. Vis- 
itors would pass with uncovered heads. Children would 
come and bring him flowers. Broken and bent and 
weary, there yet floated up to him in the fastnesses the 
incense of a life well lived. And yet the Shadow was 
still at his side, more eager now and surer of its prey. 

At last it won. The early morning hours of the 21st 
of July were cool and refreshing. There was a hint of 
dread in the air. The licjhts at the cottaee flickered and 
burned dimly. Suddenly they flared up. There was a 
hurrying of feet and a sound of suppressed sobs. Now 
and then the harsh note of a cough would be heard. 
Still there was no unusual alarm. Bitter warnings had 
come before then. 

The night grew on towards daybreak. The grey 
gloom of dawn was on the mountains The wind rusded 
down the valley in soft zephyrs. Far away outlines 
were forming in the mass of darkness. The sick man 
turned and asked for a light, A candle was brought, 
and by its flicker he wrote a message to his family. The 




(ln-1) 



1022 



LIFE 01 GENERAL GRANT. 



physicians gathered about and gave him stimulants 
Still he sank. The morning passed into the glory of 
noon, and noon into the after. The family were grouped 
in the darkened room in deep sorrow. The dying sol- 
dier observed it, and whispered : "I do not want any 
one to be distressed on my account." 




REV. J. 1'. NEWMAN. 

Another night came. The respirations had increased 
gready, although the temperature was still normal. He 
asked to be carried from his chair to his bed, and it was 
done. Then the last hours of watchfulness and prayer 
began. His hands and feet became cold and clammy, 
and there was an icy moisture upon his brow. The pul.'^e 
was fluttering, and, at frequent intervals, would sink 




(1023) 



1024 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

altoofether at the wrist. The weakness became orreater, 
and restoratives had no longer any power. The Shadow 
was very close now. 

The day broke again, but he was unconscious. The 
watchers about the bed stood in silent agony. The 
weary struggle was near its end. White and gasping 
he lay as the sands of life ran lower and lower. At a 
little after eight they ran out entirely. The hero and 
the martyr had passed out of the shadows of the present 
into the sunlight of the hereafter. The llag was at half- 
mast. The soldier was dead. The Shadow had con- 
quered. 

What more fitting end than those last months of 
sorrow and agony patiently borne ? Never before had 
the world seen such a picture of manly fortitude. The 
indifference to suffering, the fight with pain until he 
could finish the book which meant death to him yet life 
to his family, the great joy that went out from his broken 
heart, that the North and South would clasp hands over 
his dead form. He was greater upon his death-bed than 
he was at Appomattox. And still he was the same 
simple, plain, honest, manly man. He who had been 
shoulder to shoulder with the times through all the 
turmoil of his crowded life had arisen to its supremest 
emergency. 

Many came to see him during his days of sickness, and 
history was made near the_ historical chair in which 
he sat. But of all the incidents that happened that of 
the visit of General S. B. Buckner was the most striking. 
They had been friends long years before. Buckner had 
surrendered to him at Donelson — his first great victon,- — 
and he had fought the last batde of the war. His old 
rival and older friend came many miles to see the sick 
commander, and their conversation was a long and con- 
fidential one. In the- course of it he gave General 
Buckner this message to send to the nation : 
. •" I have witnessed since my sickness just what I wished 
to see ever since the war — harmony and good feeling 
between the sections. 1 have always contended that if 




illE GRKAi CUAIMANDEK LVi.NG IN bTAli:. l.N Till. CUV HALL, N. V. 

3 P 102o 



1020 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

there had been nobody left but the soldiers we would 

have had peace in a year. and are the only 

two that I know who do not seem to be satisfied on the 
Southern side. We have some on ours who failed to 
accomplish as much as they wished, or who did not get 
warmed up in the fight until it was all over, who have not 
had quite lull satisfaction. The great majority, too, of 
those who did not go into the war have long since grown 
tired of the long controversy. W'e may now well look 
forward to a perpetual peace at home, and a national 
strength that will screen us against any foreign compli- 
cation. I believe, myself, that the war was worth all it 
cost us, fearful as that was. Since it was over I have 
visited every State in pAirope, and a number in the East. 
I know, as I did not before, the value of our inheritance." 

The splendid inter-sectional loyalty of the soldier 
never shone more greatly than in this utterance. Peace 
and harmony between the sections had always been his 
hope. His broad statesmanship had ever held this to 
be the one supreme question. He did not look at it 
with the eyes ot a time-serving politician, but with the 
full gaze of a man eager for his country's welfare. It 
was the first idea which came to him when the war 
ended. 'Hiat he had assisted in its accomplishment was 
his last hapj))' thought when death was upon him. 

Immediately after his decease a guard was placed 
around the cottage. The mourning was universal. 
Messages of sympathy came from all portions of the 
habitable globe. His words, " Let us have peace," had 
been answered. The monarchs of Europe laid their 
wreaths upon the tomb of the man who was a greater 
monarch than them all. The generosit)- w'th which he 
had ever treated the South bore rich fruit. There was 
regard and regret for him for whom strife and disquiet 
were no more, and thousands of ex-Confederates flocked 
to his funeral. Among the pall-bearers were Generals 
Johnston and Buckner. General Gordon rode second 
in rank to General Hancock, who was in command of the 
arrangement of the obsec^uies. General I'^itzhugh Lee 



THE COMMANDER'S LAST DAYS. 



1027 



was amonorthe mourners who followed him to the grave. 
The funeral was the crrandest in American history. 

Riverside Park was chosen for the place of interment. 
For two days the body lay in state, at the capitol at 
Albany, and then with pomp and solemnity it was taken 
to New York. The day was a orloomy one nnd the rain 




J. H. DOUGLASS. 



fell almost constandy. At the City Hall the body was 
again placed in state. Thousands of people visited it to 
obtain a last look at the dead hero's face. All classes of 
society came to see him, and it is estimated that not 
fewer than a quarter of a million of people passed in 
review before the casket. On the morning of the loth 
of August he was buried. 



1028 LIFE OF GE.YERAL GRAXT. 

No better close for a chapter like this can be found 
than the letter which General Grant wrote and handed 
to Dr. Douglass twenty days before his death. It is a 
perfect mirror of his tlioughtfulness for his family and 
patriotic love for his country. It runs : 

"I ask you not to show this to any one, except the 
physicians you consult with, until the end. Particularly 
I want it kept from my family. If known to one man 
the papers will get it and they (the family) will see it. 
It would only distress them almost beyond endurance to 
know it, and, by reflex, would distress me. I have not 
changed my mind materially since I wrote you before in 
the same strain. Now, however, I know that I gain 
strength some days, but. when I do go back it is beyond 
where I started to improve. I think the chances are 
very decidely in iavor of your keeping me alive until 
the change of weather towards winter. Of course, there 
are contingencies that might arise at any time that might 
carry me off very suddenly. The most probable of these 
is choking. Under the circumstances life is not worth 
the living. 

"I am very thankful to have been spared this long 
because it has enabled me to practically complete the 
work in which I take so much interest. I cannot stir up 
strength enough to review it, and make additions and 
subtractions that would suggest themselves to me and 
are not likely to suggest themselves to others. 

" Under the above circumstances I will be the happiest 
the most pain I can avoid. If there is to be any extra- 
ordinary cure, such as some people believe there is to 
be, it will develop itself I would say, therefore, to you 
and your colleagues, to make me as comfortable as you 
can. It it is wiihin God's providence that I should go 
now, I am ready to obey His call without a murmur. I 
should prefer going now to enduring my present suffer- 
ing for a single day without hope of recover)'. 

"As I have stated, I am thankful for the providential 
extension of my time to enable me to continue mv work. 
I am further thankful, and in a much irreater decree 



THE COMMANDER'S LAST DAYS. 102J> 

thankful, because it has enal^led me to sec for myself the 
happy harmony which so suddenly sprung up between 
those engaged but a few short years ago in deadly con- 
flict. It has been an inestimable blessing to me to hear 
the kind expression towards me in person from all parts 
of our country, from people of all nationalities, of all 
religions and of no religion, of Confederates and of 
National troops alike, of soldiers' organizations, of 
mechanical, scientific, religious and other societies, em- 
bracing almost every citizen in the land. They have 
brought joy to my heart if they have not effected a cure. 
So to you and your colleagues I acknowledge my in- 
debtedness for having brought me through the valley 
of the shadow of death to witness these thincrs. 

''Mt. McGregor, N. Y.July 2d, 1883:' " ^- ^- ^^^^'T- 

To this may be added the last lines which he wrote on 
matters pert*aining to the war : 

" I feel that we are on the eve of a new era, when 
there is to be great harmony between the Federals and 
the Confederates. I cannot stay to be a living witness 
to the correctness of this prophecy, but I feel it within 
me that this is to be so. The universally kind feeling 
expressed for me at a time when it was supposed that 
each day would prove my last seems to me the begin- 
ning of the answer to ' Let us have peace.' The ex- 
pressions of these kindly feelings were not restricted to 
a section of the country nor to a division of the people. 
They came from individual citizens of all nationalities ; 
from all denominations, the Protestant, the Catholic and 
the Jew, and from the various societies of the land — 
scientific, educational, religious or otherwise. 

" Politics did not enter into the matter at all. I am not 
egotistic enough to suppose all this significance should 
be given this matter because I was the object of it. But 
the war between the States was a very bloody and a very 
costly war. One side or the other had to yield principles 
they deemed dearer than life before it could be brought 



1030 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

to an end. I commanded the whole of the mighty host 
engaged on the victorious side. I was, no matter 
whether deservedly so or not, a representer of that side 
of the controversy. It is a significant and gratifying 
fact that Confederates should have joined heartily in this 
spontaneous move. I hope the good feeling inaugurated 
may continue to the end." 

The tenderness and patriotism in this is greater than 
could be crowded into a hundred eulogies. It is a 
glimpse at the pure, simple heart of the great soldier. 

The writer has avoided, in this chapter, dwelling upon 
General Grant's commercial troubles, as the civil trials 
in the firm's cases were still in progress while the book 
was in the press. It may be well to say, however, that 
the united voice of the country acquitted him entirely 
of all blame in the disastrous failure of Grant & Ward. 
The truth is that, while the Great Commander was a 
mere child in the business world, he had a curious 
delusion that he was possessed of great financiering 
ability. He seems to have fallen into the hands of a lot 
of sharks in New York city whose only aim was to trade 
on his name, and his confidence and trust were sorely 
misplaced. He and the members of his family were 
financially ruined, but the betrayal was more bitter to 
him than the loss of the money. This was to him 
the saddest memory during his illness. 



CHAPTER LXXI. 

THE LAST TATTOO. 

'Tis written that the dead shall rise at last 
From their forgotten places and find life : 
But he who loved the people in their need, 
Though given back to nature, dieth not ; 
He shall continue with us to that day. 

Great soldier who didst never break our trust 
But kept it well,— if that strong hand of thine 
Which led the nation upward into peace 
May draw the darkness fall'n twixt us and thee — 
View these sad hosts here gathered from thy fields 
To watch thy bringing home. Pass mto rest : 
For thou from that high place thy worth has wrought 
Above the troubles of dead time, hast seen 
The last red ember of the camp-fire quenched. 
The battle-cloud blown seaward, and the land, 
Whose once dividing furrows thou didst smooth, 
Quiet in harvest. 

Sound the last tattoo : 
Roll, war drums ; colors, dip ; and ye grim throats 
That .spoke his iron menace, wake agam 
To chant a requiem to the answering hills : 
Our captain sleeps. 
The dav broke heavy and sullen, as though the smoke 
of his battles yet hung in the sky There was a city 
of black, and through a hundred miles of thoroughfare 
the symbols of death fluttered and swayed. Here the 
portals of a millionaire, sable and gold, with cashmere 
and precious lace : there a bit of dingy cambric dangling 
from a tenement window; arch, cornice and pillar ot 
crreat buildings veiled; spires of marble scarfed and 
hidden ; the doorways of the temple .^^rotided shops 
stripped of their tinsel and thick with shadows, the 
avenue heavy with streamers of gloom ; on ten thousand 
•^ nn.^i\ 



(1031^ 



1032 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

breasts in the hurr)ing- crowd the badges of grief; 
carriage and car, van and dray rumbhng by with dusky 
trappings ; in the parks the statues of great men were 
enfolded ; crape on the hntels of home and the altars of 
God ; everywhere the same sombre curve, or loop, or 
pall, — save against the lowering sky, gray with fast 
moving v^apor, where glanced and rippled the glories ot 
our flag — thus was the great city — the million mourning 
for the one. 

There were sounds and sights of war. On every 
side closed doors told that the wheels of commerce had 
stopped. Uniformed men hurried to their armories, and 
the blare of bugles and the shrill voice of the fife rose 
above the roar of wheels and hurrying feet. Twenty- 
four years ago the first shell from Moultrie cast just such 
a cloud and awakened the same echoes. The minds oi 
men went back to those days of trial, saw all their terrors 
and fierce glories again, and all hearts beat to that same 
wild rhythm which had measured the march of millions 
to the shock of arms and the judgment of the sword. 

A hundred cities had sent out their peoples to witness 
this last review, and to the hosts already gathered the 
busy ferries and trains brought their myriads ; there 
were 1,500,000 gazers in the street of his journey before 
the great hour was tolled. Broadway moved like a ri\er 
into which many tributaries were poured. At first the 
flow was downward and rapid, but the long channel tilled 
to its limit, and the incoming streams were turned back 
and set like a tide to the north, where they swept up 
Fifth Avenue to the Park, and thence along the winding 
route to be traveled, until but one great flood of life 
was at rest from where the dead lay in state, to where, 
through miles of the city, the gates of Riverside were 
open to receive him. 

New York had never held such a crowd in density and 
vastness. It was orderly, quiet, respectful ; eager to 
secure a place of vantage, yet obedient to the sway of 
those who guarded the dignity of the occasion. By nine 
o'clock every balcony, window and door commanding the 




1033 



1034 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

line of march was teeming ; the roofs and cornices 
swarmed. There was not an accessible point but had its 
observer : men climbed the statues in the squares ; boys 
were high in the trees ; wires swayed and trembled 
between poles, where perched a score of the adventurous ; 
the houses of the city elsewhere were tenantless ; the 
course of the pageant was choked with the people. 

From the Fifth Avenue Hotel a ceaseless stream of 
carriages departed, conveying delegates to their appointed 
places. At nine o'clock the police made a concerted 
movement ; the throng, inch by inch, was forced back ; 
and to the quick treble of the fife a regiment swung on 
right into line and stood at parade rest. Now the last 
cloud parted, and the sunlight streamed. A battery of 
artillery rumbled heavily by, the gunners perched upon 
the jolting caisson and the stout horses straining at their 
burden ; a whirl of flashing metal and angry red, and it 
had passed. Detachments of the Grand Army in sombre 
garb came with the old step to the measure of muffled 
drums, and were aligned upon the crape-shrouded tatters 
of their flag. An aide galloped down, scabbard swinging 
and aiguillette rising and falling as he rode. Then rest- 
ful expectancy — the vast scene motionlesssave where the 
trees swayed their branches in the freshening wind. 

Suddenly came a bugle note of warning. The cap- 
tains spoke sharply and a thousand lifted muskets glit- 
tered together. Every eye turned southward. 

Hancock, commanding, proud and erect as on that 
deadly day at Spottsylvania. With him Wesley Merritt. 
Gordon, Fitzhugh Lee, Ingalls, Porter, Rodgers, Barnum, 
Stevens — what a list of glories they summoned — a score 
of other heroes in his train. Then from Fourteenth 
street poured a ceaseless river of light and of color, at 
first tremulous and soft as the rippled shining of wind- 
swept waters, but brightening and stronger as it neared, 
until a sunburst rolled by in that pageant of war. The 
sparkle of buckle and breastplate, the musket's blue ray, 
the shimmer of helmet and scabbard, the howitzer's 
burnish and the gatling's cold gleam ; masses of scarlet 



THE LAST TATTOO. 1035 

and yellow and blue and gray ; plume, spike and lance 
head glittering in the maze ; guidon and standard glow- 
ino- ; a wealth of splendor poured with the dirges that 
swelled from tubes of silver and of brass ; all the glory 
of arms swept by. First the regular troops, many a 
gray beard among them, with the swinging tread begot- 
ten of years ; artillery first and the solid ranks of infantry 
supporting. Then the naval brigade of white and blue, 
sturdy arms and bronzed faces, dragging their cannon. 
After these the troops of New York, young and with 
their fields and honors before them, regiment on 
regiment. The soldiers of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
Virginia, Georgia, Connecdcut and District of Columbia 
followed, rivals of the best in numbers and martial 
bearing. Some had seen service on long-ago fields of 
glory and death, but for most part they were the youth 
of the States that sent them, untried yet, but of such 
stuff as those upon whom the brunt of great battles 
has rested. 

So went they by, division on division, in this last 
review. Never since the white flag fluttered at the sur- 
render, had so much of the nation's power been gathered, 
but no greed ng acclaimed the display, and its pomp was 
unnoticed. The onward thousands and the million that 
watched were alike silent, and no voice cheered the 
favorite commands as in their holiday marches. For 
two hours, to the rhythm of the dead march in Saul, the 
platoons passed upward and over the hill, standard-s 
shrouded, arms reversed, the saucy marker a flutter of 
crape. A regiment trod by to the throb of muffled 
drums, then an empdness in the great street, every head 
uncovered, and there was a hush. 

The dead Conqueror. 

There where the sun kissed the purple and silver that 
hid him, he came, not leading, but led ; not victorious, 
but himself surrendered. The Chief Magistrate and the 
honored of the people hedged him about ; men whose 
lives are history thronged before and after ; the great 
captains he had launched like thunderbolts against the 



1036 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

foe were with him again, but the eye saw only that rev- 
erent blackness which bore him as a cloud. In softest 
music that went and came, in whispers, the grief of the 
nation was voiced, and the folds of the flag- he loved so 
well were above and around him, and so onward into 
the valley of the shadow he went, with the last gaze of 
the peoples following till distance shut her gates upon 
the view. 

Now the rattle of many wheels as the carriages of 
delegates and ambassadors, ministers and companions 
joined the line. Then strode the comrades of his camps 
and battles. 

From every field of the nation's glory came these to 
honor him. That gray sergeant loaded the howitzer 
which the young lieutenant trained from the belfry at 
Chapultepec ; that sleeve had been empty since the 
recoil of the gray billows hurled upon Thomas at Chick- 
amauga ; yonder a red scar burns in proud memory of 
that hour at Aldie when Kilpatrick rode down with a 
whirlwind of death ; that veteran limps still from 
Huger's last shell at Manasses ; his companion pulled 
the lanyard of Rickett's first gun ; that proud-eyed giant 
planted the color on the summit at Mission Ridge ; that 
drummer beat the rally on the river bank at Shiloh. 
All heroes, all worthy the m?n. 

And thus to every mind again, after many years and 
for the last time, came the grreat war as a dream. Aeain 
the restless contention of orators and statesmen, the 
bitterness and insult, the rebuke and injury, the hot spirit 
of trouble fanning the land to a blaze. Then the lower- 
ing of the storm, the stealthy hum of preparaticxn, and 
the echoes and shock of Moultrie's first oun. A^-ain 
the ranks of resolute men, shoulder to shoulder, with 
steadfast pace to the front. Again the wild drums beat 
down the sobbing and moan of desolate homes, and the 
trumpet's fierce blare directed the charge. The dust 
and grime rising and shrouding the murder beneath, the 
trample of hoofs, the hissing of the hail of death, the 
rush lo the color, the yells of the pursuer and the cries 






^S0i '' 




T—,/ 4 iff I' 



103;) 



1038 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of the helpless — these rose as phantoms and moved 
aeain. Then somewhere from the blackness came a 
flutter of white, like a dove from a thundercloud, and 
men welcomed the emblem of peace. A few words 
uttered, a name tremblingly traced on a scanty page, 
and the tumult was hushed forever. One sword pointed 
the issue, one calm will commanded the storm, and it 
obeyed. All this passed in review again with this 
army, and in the honors thus paid to the master in his 
rest, the grave of every- soldier ot the cause was 
remembered. 

The march had reached the final camp, and the old 
commander's last home was open to receive him. The 
trumped shrilled out to halt, and through the ranks of 
his resting soldiers, as many a time before when he had 
approved them for their valor, he passed to his couch. 

Then through the hush, to the God of Battles and the 
God of Peace, ascended a prayer that after his vigil and 
toil, his long suffering and patient endurance, this sen- 
tinel might find rest. 

Hark ! the low sweet notes of the last tattoo. Good- 
night. Put out the lights. All's well. 

Now from the mouths of a hundred guns, the red 
gleam and thunder and cloud of the salute. From the 
hill the angry muzzles shot their clamors and the battle 
mist billowed and rolled above the spars and pennons of 
the answering river. Land and sea spoke their highest 
tribute. The soldier was at rest. 

Henry Guv Carleton. 



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